GrowIT.in Nagpur

A meeting for IT Start-ups was organized by Vidarbha Economic Development Council recently in the premises of IT Mystix, Ramnagar. The objective of the meeting was to help IT Start-ups to understand and explore the requirements, advantages, constraints, and opportunities,with regard to operating in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

The meet was also meant to bring companies together, form a group to secure world class infrastructure at the most reasonable cost, and seek other potential benefits, thereby addressing constraints that each would encounter, at an individual level.

The meeting had an attendance of over 30 participants, which included more than 15 IT Start-ups, Industry experts and renowned speakers. GrowIT.in, an initiative by pManifold to promote the IT /ITES industry in Nagpur, supported VED Council in organizing and conducting the event.

The meet began with a welcome message by VED Council President, Devendra Parekh, who shared the objective of the meet and assured full support for IT Start-ups. He urged the participants to actively participate in the meet, and use the expert resources made available to them, to clarify all queries that they might have.

Address by speakers on their respective topics and question answer forum for each topic followed next. CA Sumit Sharda, from R& Y Logistics, gave a crisp presentation on ‘Benefits, Rules and Regulations of SEZ’. He highlighted that an SEZ is a foreign territory within the country and special rules apply. He added that various benefits and exemptions apply to SEZ, like profit-linked exemption, FDI, Exemption from Indirect taxes etc. He also explained in detail the concept of Net Foreign Exchange earner (NFE) which is a pre-requisite to getting SEZ benefits. CA Sumit also explained the approval process to set-up a base in SEZ.

Nilay Mukherjee, Sr. Gen. Manager, Shapoorji Pallonji, gave a presentation on their 15,453+ Sq.ft. Incubation centre at SP Infocity,Mihan. The presentation gave details, which included specifications, pictures of the master plan, features, amenities and latest actual pictures of the facility. The Incubation centre is a ground plus one structure with a capacity of upto 200 seats. The facility has an open courtyard on the ground floor with a small fountain, attractive landscaping in and around the building, pantry and dining area, conference room, parking space etc. He invited everyone to visit the incubation centre as ‘Seeing is Believing’

Rajiv Shethna, Senior Resource from Persistent Technologies, spoke about the History of the IT industry in Nagpur and the importance of its presence in MIHAN.

CA Girish Deodhar, renowned CA and Trainer, enlightened the audience on financing options for IT Start-ups. He explained what are finance and its constitution, classification of micro, small and medium enterprises. 

He detailed the various sources of debt, equity while explaining their advantages and disadvantages as well. He revealed that SME Stock market is now operational and SME companies with post-issue paid up capital upto 25 crores, can list themselves on the BSE SME Exchange.The 100% underwriting by the merchant bankers mean, that the SME listing-cum-IPO issue will be a 100% success. He also spoke on the exit route for private equity.

With all the knowledge sharing and opportunities opened up to make an informed decision, VED Council President Devendra Parekh concluded the meeting and urged IT Start-ups to evaluate, make up their minds and form a group. The group, along with VED council, can then sit across the table, and strike the best deal with Shapoorji Pallonji. VED Council has already convinced Shapoorji Pallonji to support IT start-ups by providing them with the incubation facility at minimum cost possible. Shapoorji Pallonji has confirmed that if requirement for the whole incubation facility is taken up with over 150 employees working there, then Shapoorji can also make available facilities like transportation, gym, cafeteria etc.

All interested start-ups have been requested to contact VED office at info@vedcouncil.org or call Mr.Manish Kungwani – Mob: 9421816066

Among the participants were Kaustubh Katdhare of Crazy Engineers, Manish Kungwani of IT Mystix, Vishvesh Agrawal of Dhandhania Infotech, Mudassir Khan of Eduethes Infocepts, Faiz Wahid of pManifold and S K Rao of Datacone. 

Hitavada Press report: http://ehitavada.com/news.detail/paper_type/13/news_id/125147/date/2012-05-22