Hon'ble Union Minister for MSME Mr. Virbhadra Singh graces the event as the chief guest @ indiaMART.COM

Hon'ble Union Minister for MSME Mr. Virbhadra Singh graces the event as the chief guest
-- Presence of over 500 SMEs makes the grand finale a resounding success
-- Power panel discussion to discuss the 5-point agenda (HR & Training, Marketing, IPR, Finance & Innovation in Technology) steals the limelight
-- Associations, Institutes & SMEs acknowledged in a felicitation ceremony for their contribution to the sector
-- 'Special Breakaway Roundtable' was also organised prior to the main event

More thrust is needed in terms of financial aid and technology upgradation for MSMEs, highlighted Hon'ble Union Minister for MSME Mr. Virbhadra Singh at the recently concluded Zee Business presents IndiaMART Emerging Business Forum in New Delhi. He graced the occasion as the chief guest. With its four months long journey across13 different cities of India, the forum emerged as the biggest ever platform to address and discuss pain points of SMEs.

Inspiring over 4500 SMEs to take the 'Next Big Leap' in this journey, the forum catalysed knowledge-sharing by luminary panelists and enlightening insights from SME clusters across the country. The sole aim was to churn out practical solutions for varied business functions and pertinent challenges faced by the SMEs. The presence of over 500 SMEs at the finale ensured that it turned out to be a spectacular event.

Appreciating this initiative by IndiaMART.com and Zee Business, Hon'ble Union Minister for MSME, said, "This activity of taking note of contribution of MSMEs is taking momentum in the country. The industries in MSME sector are gaining momentum day by day especially with the interest taken by the prime minister, by setting up the task force." He added that the government is giving a lot of impetus to credit guarantee to MSMEs. However, he shared that much more is required for financial assistance to these units. On the current economic scenario, he said, "We are passing through a difficult phase but India is on a recovery mode. Let us not be disheartened. Slowdown is a global phenomenon and mighty countries such as US, Europe, Japan, are also facing the same downturn. There is no need to panic and we have enough sources to fight the present situation."

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Dinesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO, IndiaMART.com, said, "We are extremely thankful to the Honourable Union Minister of MSME Shri Virbhadra Singh for gracing the finale of IndiaMART Emerging Business Forum. This forum is unique not only because of the huge participation by SMEs, industry associations and policymakers at all 13 on-ground events but also because of the efforts put in to find solutions to the issues faced by SMEs, instead of just touching upon them. We also extend our thanks to Zee Business for their support in making this a success."

The event began with the keynote by Mr. Brijesh Agrawal, COO, IndiaMART.com. He shared, "Each large enterprise was once a start up. They are at this stage led by their zealous entrepreneurs whose vision, grit and determination have let them taste success. At IndiaMART.com, we have been committed to empower SMEs to move up this value chain, achieve scale and global competitiveness. Emerging Business Forum is a reflection of the same. Such a tremendous response from SMEs across the country to this endeavour reaffirms our commitment." This was followed by an address by Mr. Barun Das, CEO, Zee News.

The finale also entailed a power panel discussion on a five-point agenda where Mr. H P Kumar, Chairman & MD, NSIC, Mr. N K Maini, Deputy, MD, SIDBI, Mr. Dinesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO, IndiaMART.com, Mr. A Sakthivel, President of Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA) and Mr. Saurabh Srivastava, Founder, India Angel Network delved on finding solutions to aspects concerning SMEs such as marketing, HR and training, credit facilitation, IPR and innovation in technology.

The forum also felicitated SMEs and associations that have contributed to the growth of the sector. The details are mentioned below:

Industry Associations
. Tirupur Exporters' Association (TEA)
. Agra Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Chamber (AFMEC)
. Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SGCCI)

Special Contribution to Policy Making
. Mr. Dinesh Rai

Innovation in Technology
. Data Resolve Technologies

HR & Training Excellence
. Sandhar Technologies

Manufacturing Excellence
. Dawar Footwear Industries

Marketing Excellence
. Cocoberry

SME Credit Facilitation
. Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)

Prior to the grand finale, a 'Special Breakaway Roundtable' was also organised. It brought together policymakers and industry representatives from across the country on a single platform. While the latter sought views and responses on SME specific challenges, the former highlighted initiatives undertaken by the government. The esteemed participants included Mr. R K Mathur, Secretary, Ministry of MSME, Government of India, Mr. S K Goel, Chairman, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), Mr. Dinesh Agarwal, Mr. Rohit Mehta, President, Southern Gujarat Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Mr. Rajiv Chawla, President, Faridabad Small Industries Association, among others. 

HCL Infosystems Introduces First Connect Conversation in Kolkata Session on Mumbai Dabbawalas presents lessons in best practices for corporates; Exclusive workshops on Cloud Computing and Trends in latest technology and products

Kolkata, West Bengal, India, Friday, April 27, 2012 -- (TR Reporter) -- HCL Infosystems Ltd., India's premier ICT System Integration, Services, Hardware and Distribution Company today initiated the Connect Conversation series in Kolkata with the launch of the First HCL Connect Conversation, Kolkata Chapter at the Oberoi Grand. An interesting executive session on the supply chain management and business practices of the Mumbai Dabbawalas was presented by Dr. Pawan Agarwal, PhD on Mumbai Dabbawalas and an International speaker. 

The session on "Out of the Box Technology" by Mr. Mohammed Salman, Senior Vice President, Application Services, HCL Infosystems demystified Out of the Box Thinking and unleashed a debate on the different aspects of IT and its innovative usages in businesses. Senior representatives from the government and private sector in large numbers attended the First Connect Conversation in Kolkata.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. APS Bedi, Executive Vice President, HCL Infosystems said, "I am very thankful to all the CIOs across verticals both from the government and corporates of this magnificent city for their wholehearted participation in the HCL Connect Conversation and making it a grand success. The Connect Conversation Series is a unique platform that I am sure will drive powerful synergies amongst various stakeholders towards growth and development across the nation. The first chapter in Kolkata will be a catalyst for bringing in innovation and increased competitiveness for industries in the region and we look forward to many more such enriching sessions here as part of the Connect series."

Exclusive parallel workshops were also organized during the daylong event to discuss Cloud Computing and a 360 degree perspective on the trends relating to the latest technology and products available in the market. HCL Infosystems has a strong presence in the Kolkata region and has provided best in class solutions for various organizations such as the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Department of School Education, Government of West Bengal and United Bank of India among others.

Courion Delivers Record Profitability and Sales in 2011

Pune, Maharashtra, India, Monday, April 09, 2012 -- (Business Wire India) -- -- Continued demand for access risk management solutions outpaces industry growth, drives double-digit revenue gains and significant staff growth

-- Courion achieved significant industry recognition when positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the "Leaders" quadrant of two Security Magic Quadrant Reports

-- Courion has also been actively involved in social responsibility initiatives like the 'Joy of Giving' initiative to help the less fortunate.

Courion Corporation, the leader in identity and access management for access risk, closed out 2011 by outpacing the industry in sales growth; exceeding its profitability targets; and expanding its staff worldwide to support increasing demand for its access risk management solutions. 

Courion's global sales exceeded the market growth rates predicted by industry analysts IDC, RNCOS and Gartner by more than double thanks to the addition of new customers in healthcare, financial services, retail, government, manufacturing and business services, among other industries. It also grew within its existing customer base as companies sought comprehensive access risk management solutions that expanded the breadth and depth of their Courion deployments. Both new and existing customers selected Courion to address identity and access governance challenges such as policy and regulatory compliance, access certification and access request management.

"Businesses are increasing their focus on access risk management, whether they're managing access risk against external threats, internal breaches, or to demonstrate compliance with policy and regulatory requirements," said Courion CEO Chris Zannetos. "Those needs drove demand for Courion solutions through 2011, and we expect demand to continue in 2012 as companies seek efficiency in identity and access management along with the necessary governance and access intelligence to minimize potential risks to their business."

In order to support industry demand and sales growth, the company increased its staff across all departments by 39 percent, with major expansion of its EMEA and Asia Pacific operations.

Courion made a number of significant announcements on the business and product development fronts in 2011. In September the company announced the Access Risk Management Suite, a comprehensive identity and access management (IAM) solution automated and pre-configured for rapid implementation based on the best practices of more than 500 successful customer deployments. The Access Risk Management Suite is a single platform for managing user access to vital information by automating and integrating key IAM functions such as identity and access governance, user provisioning, and password management. The Access Risk Management Suite is available as an on-premise solution or as a cloud-based solution called CourionLiveT. 

CourionLive is designed to address the growing adoption of software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions in the enterprise. With CourionLive, customers will achieve low start-up, operational and maintenance costs, resulting in faster time to value and lower total cost of ownership than with premise-based IAM solutions. Cintas Corporation, a $3.8 billion international supplier of business services, chose CourionLive as its primary IAM solution because it aligns with the company's IT strategy of outsourcing non-business specific applications so they can focus on implementing competitive advantage solutions for their expanding business lines. 

To achieve similar benefits of cloud computing, the American Red Cross purchased the Courion Suite in 2011 to provision cloud-based Microsoft® Office 365 email for full-time employees, contract workers and volunteers. Office 365 is just one of many cloud-applications for which Courion offers out of the box connectors. 

Courion's other significant product announcement in 2011 was Access InsightT, the industry's first access intelligence solution which constantly analyzes IAM and other security data from applications and external sources to identify, quantify and manage risks to vital information such as intellectual property, medical records, personally identifiable information and customer data. Unlike traditional reporting solutions, Access Insight allows organizations to identify associations and patterns that might violate compliance guidelines and company policies, or indicate hidden risks, with near-real-time graphical profiles of the most critical business, people, policy and security risks to information, replacing manual data sorting and static risk scoring that lacks context and a connection to business priorities. 

In addition to the major product announcements, Courion achieved significant industry recognition when positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the "Leaders" quadrant of two Security Magic Quadrant Reports: the 2011 "Magic Quadrant for User Administration/Provisioning" report (formerly known as Magic Quadrant for User Provisioning) and the inaugural 2011 "Magic Quadrant for Identity and Access Governance" report. 

"The accomplishments we made in 2011 give us strong momentum as we move confidently into 2012. As the demand for access risk management solutions increases, we're positioned with the right products and the right team to support them," Zannetos said. 

Apart from that, Courion has been actively involved in social responsibility initiatives. While keeping in mind the celebration, Courion thinks of taking a little extra effort and organised Donation camp "Joy of Giving." The Employees pitched in whole heartedly and donated clothes, books and so on. Three carton full of this material and sent it to DeepGriha, an NGO trust which works with the less fortunate.