Management guru Pritam Singh dies of cardiac arrest

nNEW DELHI: Acclaimed management guru and Padma Shri awardee, Pritam Singh, on Wednesday died following a cardiac arrest. He was 78.

He served as independent director in several private companies.

Singh was a former director of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Lucknow and Management Development Institute (MDI) in Gurgaon and director general at Rp-sanjiv Goenka Group-promoted International Management Institute (IMI) in New Delhi. He was also a former professor and dean of Iim-bangalore.

Among others, he was a nonexecutive independent director on the board of Hero Motocorp Ltd and served on the board of Godrej Properties Ltd and Parsvnath Developers Ltd. A mentor to several current academic leaders, Singh was a resident of Gurugram.

He authored seven books, over 50 research papers and was regarded as pioneer of management education in India and abroad.

Singh was awarded Padam Shri in 2003 for his contributions in the field of management studies.

He has worked with scores of chief executive officers (CEOS) at an individual level to guide them in their businesses.

nMUMBAI: Shashank Moddhia, chief executive of The Renal Project, a startup that runs a chain of dialysis centres in the suburbs of Mumbai and Pune, is working overtime to get a micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) registration for his business since the government announced a special package for small businesses impacted by the covid-19 outbreak.

“We need to ensure we have access to funds. We have applied for the MSME registration so that we can avail collateral-free loans at a time when it is even more critical for us to obtain expensive medical equipment to keep the centres running,” said Moddhia.

As financial distress of businesses across sectors continues to rise, many startups such as Moddhia’s are lining up to register as MSMES as traditional sources of funding dry up.

The government has introduced various schemes to address the financial crisis faced by MSMES, by giving them access to credit amid a squeeze on liquidity.

“With the Atmanirbhar package, MSME registration for many startups has almost become a necessity which apart from providing easier access to liquidity also allows benefits from measures such as MSME incubators,” said Sanjay Mehta, founder and partner 100X.VC, an early stage VC and board member, TIE Mumbai, which has started programmes to guide startups to register as MSMES.

There are stringent rules in place for businesses to qualify as MSMES, which include revenue

THE GOVERNMENT IS GIVING MSMES ACCESS TO CREDIT AMID A LIQUIDITY SQUEEZE

and investment parameters. Industry experts said that while registering as MSMES may not be a lasting solution for most startups, it will nonetheless help them tide over the current crisis. “Startups cannot be classified as MSMES lifelong, but it would be in the interest of companies to register, keeping in mind the status can change over time,” said Anil Joshi, managing partner, Unicorn India Ventures, another early-stage technology-focused VC.

The government has also approved the creation of a ₹50,000-crore fund of funds to help select high-growth MSMES with a good track record, and help them list on the exchanges.

Commerce minister Piyush Goyal said recently that most startups will be eligible for additional liquidity and funding under the credit support schemes for MSMES under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan package.