National Level IP Yatra Programme for MSMEs
Kolkata, 20th March, 2025: MSME-Development & Facilitation Office, Kolkata under Ministry of MSME, Govt. of India organized National Level IP Yatra Programme (2 Days IP Workshop) at Hotel Hindusthan International, Kolkata from 19th March, 2025 to 20th March, 2025. The Government of India envisioned creating the MSME Innovative Scheme through a combination of Incubation, Design intervention and IPR protection initiatives to enhance MSME competitiveness and transform them as National and International Champions.
The National Level IP Yatra Programme for MSMEs was inaugurated by: Mr. Vijay Bharti, IAS, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology and Biotechnology, Govt. of West Bengal; Dr. Tapas Kumar Bandyopadhyay, Professor, IIT Kharagpur; Mr. Pramathesh Sen, Joint Controller of Patents & Designs, Head of office, Patent Office Kolkata; Mr. N. Babu, Deputy Registrar of Trade Marks and G.I., Head of office, Trade Marks office, Kolkata; Mr. P. K. Das, JD & HoO, MSME-DFO, Kolkata & many other eminent personalities.
On this occasion, Mr. P. K. Das, Joint Director & HoO, MSME-DFO, Kolkata expressed his satisfaction for organizing this event for exclusive benefits of MSMEs for the State of West Bengal. He also informed that more than 300 MSMEs are expected to participate in the Programme. Sharing his views, he said, “Government of India has taken several measures to enhance the competiveness of MSMEs through IPR which is a new concept for MSMEs with a combination of innovation in incubation, design intervention and by protecting IPR in a single mode approach to create awareness amongst MSMEs about India’s innovation and motivate them to become MSME Champions. This acts as a hub for innovation activities facilitating and guiding development of ideas into viable business proposition that can benefit society directly and can be marketed successfully”.
MSME Innovative Scheme is an amalgamation of the Incubation, Design and IPR Schemes of the Ministry of MSME. These erstwhile three schemes are operated as separate verticals with interflows and connections. These verticals are also integrated sequentially and parallelly into one singular formulation to promote and encourage innovative activities for improved synergy and higher efficiency.
The programme covered workshop cum seminar on Intellectual Property Rights with special focus on Basic understanding on various components of IPR, Procedural and Regulatory Aspects of IP Prosecution, with reference to MSMEs, IP strategy and Startups, role of IPR in Technology commercialization challenges and opportunities, Importance of Packaging for GI Products & use of IP in Packaging, Technology Transfer and impact of IPR on Business growth etc.
Chennai, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata Emerge as Most Affordable Metros for Residential Investments: Magicbricks
New Delhi, September 6 2024: The Indian real estate market is currently experiencing a bull run, marked by soaring prices and escalating demand. At the same time, household incomes across the top 10 cities increased at a CAGR of 5.4%, while property prices surged at a CAGR of 9.3% (between 2020-2024). This growing gap in income and property price growth rates has weakened affordability.
Elaborating on the same, Magicbricks’ flagship report “Housing Affordability in Major Indian Cities” revealed that the Property Price to Annual Household Income Ratio (P/I Ratio) in India has increased from 6.6 in 2020 to 7.5 in 2024 (higher than the globally accepted benchmarks of 5). Based on the P/I Ratio, the report observed that Chennai (5), Ahmedabad (5), and Kolkata (5) are among the most affordable cities for residential investments in 2024, while the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (14.3) and Delhi (10.1) emerged as the least affordable.
Explaining the trends, Sudhir Pai, CEO, Magicbricks shared “Between the latter half of 2021 and 2022, residential investments were at their most affordable. During this period, the market was experiencing a resurgence, characterized by low interest rates, recovering household incomes, and modest increase in residential prices. However, homeownership sentiment has since peaked, resulting in demand significantly outpacing available supply, leading to a rapid and substantial surge in residential prices, presenting new challenges for affordable housing.”
Furthermore, the report revealed that the EMI-to-monthly income ratio in India has risen from 46% in 2020 to 61% in 2024, indicating a growing burden of EMIs on home buyers and reflecting affordability concerns nationwide, especially metros. The trend is more pronounced in MMR (116%), New Delhi (82%), Gurugram (61%) and Hyderabad (61%). In contrast, cities like Ahmedabad (41%), Chennai (41%) and Kolkata (47%) are relatively more affordable.
The report concluded that the current situation is likely to hit equilibrium conditions with market trends indicating a deceleration in price growth due to an anticipated increase in residential supply.