India's Best SMEs 2012

The fourth edition of the BT-YES Bank survey celebrating small businesses that have beaten the odds.

STAR SME OVERALL (MEDIUM), STAR SME AGRICULTURE (MEDIUM): DFM Foods
Location: Delhi
Core activity: Making Packaged Snack Foods
No. of employees (as on March 31, 2012): 325

In pic: Mohit Jain (left), MD of DFM Foods, with Executive Director Rohan Jain

STAR SME OVERALL (SMALL), STAR SME MANUFACTURING (SMALL): Ankur Scientific Energy Technologies
Location: Vadodara
Core activity: Manufacturing biomass gasifiers
No. of employees (as on March 31, 2012): 300

In pic: Ankur Jain, Managing Director of Ankur Scientific, at his Vadodara factory

STAR SME SERVICES (SMALL): Mynd Solutions Pvt Ltd
Location: Gurgaon, Haryana
Core activity: Business Process Outsourcing
No. of employees (as on March 31, 2012): 1,000

In pic: Vivek Misra (left) and Sundeep Mohindru (centre) with colleague Mukul Jain on the Gurgaon Expressway

STAR SME TRADING (SMALL): SL Packaging Pvt Ltd
Location: Kolkata
Core activity: Trading in jute and allied products
No. of employees 10

In pic: Navin Saraf at his factory

BEST SME SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY (SMALL): Yennai Hydrocarbon
Yennai Hydrocarbon
Location: Mumbai
Core activity: Oil and gas
No. of employees 300

In pic: Rishi P. Gupta, co-founder of the oilfield services provider at his Barmer campus in Rajasthan

STAR SME AGRICULTURE (SMALL): StarAgri Warehousing and Collateral Management
Location: Jaipur
Core activity: Agriculture warehousing
No. of employees: 550

In pic: Suresh Goyal (second from left), Chairman and Managing Director of StarAgri Warehousing and Collateral Management with farmers in Jodhpur

BEST SME FOR INNOVATION (SMALL): Molecular Connections
Location: Bangalore and Chennai
Core activity: Drug discovery informatics and publishing
No. of employees: 850

In pic: Jignesh Bhate, CEO, Molecular Connections at his office in Bangalore

BEST SME IN NORTHEAST INDIA: North Eastern Medical Research Institute
Location: Guwahati
Core activity: Health-care
No. of employees: 250

In pic: Dr Bijoya Goswami quit her job in 1996 to start Arya hospital

STAR SME MANUFACTURING (MEDIUM): Chem Process System
Location: Sanand, Gujarat
Core activity: Making engineering equipment
No. of employees: 300

In pic: Jayesh Parikh, Managing Director, Chem Process System

STAR SME TRADING (MEDIUM): Aastha Minmet India Ltd
Location: Mumbai
Core activity: Metals, minerals & commodities
No. of employees: 38

In pic: Mohit Aggarwal of AMIL at a coal-trading site

STAR SME SERVICES (MEDIUM): Shalby Hospitals

In pic: Dr Vikram Shah, the chairman of Shalby Hospitals, with a patient

BEST SME SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY (MEDIUM): Omega Elevators
Location: Ahmedabad
Core activity: Manufacturing of elevators
No. of employees: 1,300

In pic: Kumar M. Desai, founder of Ahmedabad-based Omega Elevators

BEST SME FOR INNOVATION (Medium): Emmbi Polyarns
Location: Mumbai
Core activity: Packaging
No. of employees: 1,400

In pic: Makrand Appalwar, Managing Director, Emmbi Polyarns(centre) and friends, with the portable water tanks his company makes