Yes Bank rebrands with small business focus

The 11-year-old financial bank in association with the BMPA brought on board an august line-up of speakers to address the current pressing needs of the small business and provide a window for growth and diversification.

 

Sanjay Agrawal, senior president – business banking emphasised the bank’s print focus for the many independent small print shops around the country. For him, this is the most opportune time to do a business in India with the country expected to reach a GDP of more than seven to eight per cent over five years. “Furthermore, the infrastructure of the country is set to improve which will translate into improved flow of credit.”

 

The optimism continued with Dr Radhakrishnan Pillai’s mantras of being a leader, and a very successful one at that. Citing examples of Subhash Chandra, founder and chairman of Essel Group, and the Iyangar Bakery community model of business,, among others, Dr Pillai stated the five essentials of a leader: A successful leader must understand the fundamentals of management, economics, law, foreign policy and their competition.

 

Shishir Athale’s presentation on Energy Efficiency Management brought to fore energy management and technology solutions which results in substantial savings and maximisation of investment. “Energy efficiency is not a technical problem but a management problem. For the 50 largest energy users of the country, the cost of energy is equivalent to their net profits.” In the printing industry, according to Athale, the flex printing companies’ investment in energy is comparable to their profit before tax.” This, Athale said is a collective issue that the management should work towards.

 

Athale is the director of Sudnya Industrial Services.

 

Bringing to the audience the various other means of funding their business, Ajay Thakur head at the Bombay Stock Exchange said, “The behavior among small business owners is changing and becoming more sophisticated. Our SME arm, formed thirty years agois working towards being a part of this progress.”

 

He couldn’t less emphasise the importance of both debt funding and equit funding but according to him, equity funding is an opportunity of wealth creation. “The knowledge of equity funding in India is negligible. Citing numbers, he added, “Out of the total population of the country, only 2.5 crore people are registered with BSE and only four to five lakh of these trade on a regular basis.”

 

Explaining the financials of small business he said that these businesses have high toplines but their net profits are is a mere 0.1 to 0.2%. This, he reasoned, could either be a result of tax saving strategies or excessive debt funding from the banks. “Being dependent on one kind of funding ends a company into trouble. Hence a balance between equity and debt funding is essential.”

 

“When you list your company,” he continued, “you shift from the taxation to wealth creation model. Equity is the currency of you company that you issue without sharing your profits or selling a portion of your business.”

 

The session concluded with Faheem Agboatwala, president BMPA, enlisting the pain points and expectations of the printers to the bank delegates.