India's May Trade Gap Narrows as Exports Rise

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India's merchandise trade ⁠deficit ⁠narrowed marginally in May as higher exports ⁠offset part of the import bill, while firms navigated volatile energy prices, Middle East disruptions and ​ongoing trade negotiations with the United States.

The data underscores pressure on India to sustain exports and contain import costs as ​it seeks greater U.S. market access, with April-May goods exports nearly flat at $17.29 billion versus $17.21 billion a year earlier.

Today in Global Small Business: India's Biggest Holiday of the Year, Diwali Day

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Happy Diwali Day – Diwali, or Dipawali, is India's biggest and most important holiday of the year. May your days be as bright as the Diwali lights.
• No Kings movement – I [Laurel Delaney] participated in the Chicago gathering 10/18/25.
• The world can see the 'No Kings' nonviolent protests.
• The 'No Kings' movement proves how vulnerable Trump is.  Not by the event itself but by the attacks on it by Republicans (including Trump).
• Celebration of the week:  "Wishing you a very Happy Diwali! May this festival of lights bring you prosperity, health, love and good fortune." 
• Three weekend habits that are ruining your brain.

Empowering Women SMEs for Global Success

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Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are at the heart of the global economy, representing over 90% of businesses employing up to 70% of the workforce, and driving half of the world's GDP.

Despite their critical role, they face a staggering $5.7 trillion financing gap globally, which increases to $8 trillion when including informal businesses.

In India, for example, 63 million MSMEs contribute 30% of GDP and provide jobs to 110 million people.  It is India’s women entrepreneurs who are forging a new path.

Learn what the International Finance Corporation (IFC) is doing to amplify access to credit.

Today in Global Small Business: Ad Campaigns That Are More Inclusive Have a Positive Impact

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• A new academic research carried out for the advertising industry suggests that “Go woke, go broke," the snappy catchphrase devised by rightwing groups as a warning to brands, has got it all wrong.  New evidence that ad campaigns that are more inclusive have a positive impact on profits, sales and brand worth.
• Bed Bath & Beyond is pursuing global sales in key international markets, starting with a licensing agreement for stores in Mexico.
• Quote of the week: “Never write an advertisement which you wouldn’t want your own family to read. You wouldn’t tell lies to your own wife. Don’t tell them to mine. Do as you would be done by. If you tell lies about a product, you will be found out…” – David Ogilvy
• The NFL is going global and that's a good thing (to some).
• Last week the Private Label Manufacturers Association met in Amsterdam, this week the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors meets in Vancouver and next week CIES, The Food Business Forum, convenes in Paris.  Global retailing is happening.
• The digital public infrastructure (DPI) of India is increasingly finding traction in other countries – truly global – and its reach is only going to increase.  

Is India a Legitimate Option for Global Factory Production?

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Roughly one of every four shipping containers passing through India is loaded or unloaded at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port on the west coast of India, on the docks jutting into the Arabian Sea just south of Mumbai. The flow of containers has roughly tripled over the past two decades, reaching the equivalent of 6.4 million 20-foot boxes last year.

Yet by the standards of the world’s largest ports — many of them in China — it remains a small operation.

Find out how India is now pursuing an aggressive campaign to catch up, readying plans for new ports while expanding existing docks. 

Today in Global Small Business: Less Than Container Load (LCL) Shipping Has Its Benefits

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Less than container load (LCL) shipping has it benefits.
• Top central banks differ on rates.
• Quote of the week:  "I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning how to sail my ship." – Louisa May Alcott
• CrowdStrike reveals global outage.
• Why India feels it is important to empower small businesses.
• Instead of focusing on the differences between local citizens and expats, the iBuilt – an acronym for International Business & Innovation Leaders in Tech – initiative aims to highlight the common ground.

Is India the Future?

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In a global marketplace reshaped by volatile forces — not least the animosity between the United States and China — India shows signs of emerging as a potentially significant place to manufacture products. 

Yet the trouble is they – in India – are slow.  Slow on samples.  Slow on producing.  Slow on deliveries.  Can we afford the wait?

Read:  For American Brands Worried About China, is India the Future?

Today in Global Small Business: Doing Good in This World

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• 5 tech companies doing good in this world.
• Why India could single-handedly shape the future of e-commerce.
• What you need to know about the global economy this week.
• Quote of the week: "I think, because of globalization, the world is getting increasingly smaller, so that if some event happens around the globe, it’s not something that happens way out there. That event might very well have something in common with what’s happening here." – Sidra Hamidi, Ph.D.
• Israel and USA sign cybersecurity agreement.
• Sidra Hamidi was just 7 years old when she moved with her family from Karachi, Pakistan, to the Chicago area.  Now, she's bringing an impressive resume to Eckerd College as one of 12 new tenure-track faculty members.

India Is Shaping the Future of E-commerce

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This month, retail giants and government regulators around the world will be watching closely as India rolls out the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) in 100 major cities. 

ONDC is a government-backed initiative that was conceived by non-profit think tanks. The project, championed by Indian billionaire and Infosys founder Nandan Nilekani, aims to create a level playing field in online commerce by putting tens of millions of kiranas (Indian family businesses) on an even footing with online giants such as Amazon, Google, and India’s Flipkart(a Walmart subsidiary).

Read on to see how India is shaping the future of e-commerce, at least for the summer of 2022.

Exports to Play a Big Role in India's Economy

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Abhijit Kamra, director, Global Trade, Amazon India, and Dr Avik Sarkar professor, Indian School of Business (ISB), firmly believes that India has all the right ingredients to emerge as a strong export’s hub, ushering in the fourth industrial revolution.

In the 21st century, the power of the internet, combined with rapid digitization levels and use of machine learning and artificial intelligence can lead the nationals and citizens of India to the vision of Exports 2.0.  Exports 2.0 will enable small businesses to reach customers worldwide and create global brands 

This vision can empower millions of MSMEs across India to benefit from global market access, integration with global supply chains and enable them to create global brands. 

Google Pay Goes Global Thanks to Colossal Success in India

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Bullish on Google Pay and its rising adoption in India, Alphabet has taken cues from the successful experience in India and would soon roll out its revamped digital payments product globally.

Two years after debuting in India, Google's digital payment platform Google Pay hit 67 million monthly active users (MAUs) in India in September last year, driving transactions worth over $110 billion on an annualized basis with hundreds of thousands of offline and online merchants.

Don't we wish we could all scale our businesses like this!

"The vast majority of India's over 60 million small businesses are still not benefiting from the growing digital economy," says Ambarish Kenghe, Director, Product Management, Google Pay.

That is about to change.  Read more about how Google Pay goes global.

Today in Global Small Business: Is Tariff a Dirty Word to Business Owners Who Trade Globally?

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Is tariff a dirty word to business owners who trade globally?
• Quote of the week:  “To create something exceptional, your mindset must be relentlessly focused on the smallest detail.” – Giorgio Armani
• wegg® is helping women entrepreneurs create jobs and achieve global goals.
• Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) and Facebook have announced a partnership that aims to ramp up job creation and to further empower entrepreneurs in India.
• The air cargo industry faces slower growth, declines in general cargo shipments, and criticisms about being slow to adapt and innovate to evolving customer needs.  Yet e-commerce is still the hot topic.
• Learn why the international world requires an international mindset.

India Presents a Huge eCommerce Opportunity for Walmart

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Retail giant Walmart continues to be committed to the Indian market given the huge opportunity that the country presents.  It's been nearly a year into Walmart buying Flipkart for USD 16 billion.

We're looking at Flipkart, Walmart India, Walmart Global Sourcing and Walmart Labs.  That's a substantial presence in India.

Here is what's at stake:

[CEO Doug] McMillon is visiting at a time when Flipkart is locked in an intense battle for market leadership in India with American giant Amazon. India's richest man Mukesh Ambani has also announced ambitious plans of an e-commerce platform to tap into the country's digital shopping segment that is forecast to touch USD 200 billion in the next few years. 

Read more how Walmart is committed to India.

To Become More Competitive, Focus on Exporting

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India's economic growth has come largely from domestic demand and its exports were about one third of its potential, says a World Bank official.  The next government needs to focus on export-led growth.

Praising attempts to liberalize markets within India, Hans Timmer, World Bank Chief Economist for the South Asia Region said "that is what is needed to become more competitive."

Read more about India's focus on exporting to reduce dependence on domestic activity.

How to Make Communicating with Global Customers Easier for Small Businesses

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WhatsApp Business app is particularly aimed at making communicating with customers easier for small businesses.

We [in India] are currently testing a solution for larger businesses—like an airline, ecommerce company or bank—to connect with their customers on WhatsApp,” a company spokesman said in an email, adding more than 3 million people globally are actively on WhatsApp Business. 

WhatsApp Business app allows small businesses to scale quickly and offer personalization and engagement.

Learn more about how to keep the conversation going.

Artistically Made Maps Show How the World Viewed India Over the Centuries

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As the article published in Quartz says:

Standing in front of these [India] spectacular maps, it becomes all the more clear what we stand to lose as cartography dies out in an era of GPS navigation and apps that do all the work for you. But preserving and protecting these rare maps is a challenge, especially in India where heritage conservation is often an afterthought, and it falls upon private collectors to keep these historic pieces safe.

Discover how a beautiful collection of rare maps shows how the world viewed India over the centuries.

Ivanka Trump to Lead US Delegation to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in India 2017

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The Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), an initiative started by former US President Barack Obama, will have its eighth edition in India in 2017.  Donald Trump’s daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump is set to lead the US delegation to the event.

According to the official website of GES, the summit would “showcase inspiring entrepreneurs and investors from around the world creating new opportunities for investment, partnership, and collaboration; connect American entrepreneurs and investors with international counterparts to form lasting relationships; highlight entrepreneurship as means to address some of the most intractable global challenges.”

The summit's agenda includes workshops, panel discussion, talks, pitch competitions, mentoring and networking sessions to fuel the growth of companies participating in the summit.

Read more ...

Bar Chain Social is Rocking India

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The bar-office chain Social is now rocking India but its founders are graduates from the culinary school of hard knocks.  In India, many investors have created wealth from food but seldom overnight.  Big factors to success in this industry include timing, experience, experimentation and luck. And of course along the way there will be inevitable setbacks.

Read more here.

Going Global Adds New Lease on Business Life

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A look at a report by NASSCOM indicates India was ranked the third largest tech startup ecosystem with more than 100 accelerators, 200 active angels, 150 VCs and over 4,200 startups operating in the region.

According to Entrepreneur:

The FinTech industry in India is predicted to grow two-fold by 2020, with global brands lending their weight. This drive brings a lease of life and convenience to smaller businesses, which historically have struggled to benefit from national and global growth opportunities due to a traditionally poor technology infrastructure and network.

Read more:  Bizequity Expands Its Global Reach With Its Launch in India

Alert:  There's room for a few more virtual seats at WEGG's upcoming webinar (it's no charge but you must register to attend).

Intuit Gets Lean in India

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US accounting software company Intuit has retrenched at least 440 employees globally and the wave has hit Indian shores, too.

According to officials in the company's Bengaluru office, 35 employees including developers, sales and marketing staff were asked to leave last month. The employees were told in July that the company needs to get leaner and a reorganisation was on the anvil.

Read more:  Intuit Fires 440 Staff Globally, 35 in Bengaluru