Opportunities and risks of small business in the Russian Federation
In 2012, the number of medium enterprises was responsible for 99,6% of the entire number of German companies (3,7 million). The turnover of the medium enterprises (hereinafter - ME) greatly exceeds the turnover of DAX companies. For example, in 2010 the turnover of the ME in 2010 reached 2 billion euros (without international operations), while 30 DAX companies extracted the turnover of 1,14 billion euros (including the operations of foreign subsidiaries).
Approximately 60% of socially insured employees in 2010 were employed by small and medium ventures (hereinafter – SMV), and five out of six students in 2011 were studying for SMV.
The share of Russian SMV in the GDP of Russia, according to some information, is a modest one – 19-21%, responsible for 18,2% of all employed persons in 2009. While the German SMV are highly innovative companies (54% of those created between 2008 and 2010 innovative products, the amount of investments of SMV into research and development reached 8,7 billion euros in 2010), Russian SMV are mainly present in the sphere of commerce and services.
|
Categories of SMV |
Maximum | ||
|
|
Micro |
Small |
Medium |
|
Total share of participation of Russia, constituent territories of Russia, municipalities, foreign legal entities in the charter capital. Said limitation for foreign legal entities was revoked on October 1st of 2013. |
25% |
25% |
25% |
|
Share of one or several legal entities that are not SMV |
25% |
25% |
25% |
|
Average number of employees during the previous calendar year. |
15 |
100 |
101 - 250 |
|
Profits from the sale of goods (works, services) exclusive of VAT for the previous calendar year |
60 million |
400 million |
1000 million |
The task to develop SMV in Russia was set by the Government, and there are positive tendencies in the legal, financial and other sectors (for example, shorter periods of connection to the electricity networks, cheaper procedure etc.).
Limitation on the share of the charter capital is one of the factors that hinder the attraction of direct investments in the sphere of SMV. Elimination of this limitation for individuals is unlikely to create favorable conditions for business of foreign investors, because the majority of them are legal entities that enter into Russian market often by establishing a subsidiary or a joint venture with a Russian partner.
See the full version of the expert opinion of Erika Kindsvater, Advocate of the Law Firm "YUST" from Germany, concerning the tax climate for small and medium business in Russia and State support of such business in the Ezh-YURIST newspaper No. 45, 2013.
Rankings and Partners
