FOCIA meets with Vanathi Srinivasan; MSMEs' plight in accessing Centre-announced benefits discussed
The Federation of Coimbatore Industrial Associations (FOCIA), a collection of 19 associations of MSMEs, organised a meeting on June 4, 2020 at COSMAFAN Office in Nava India, Coimbatore.
State secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Vanathi Srinivasan participated in this meeting and recorded the grievances put forth by the entrepreneurs in obtaining the loan schemes announced by the Central government.
The members raised several practical difficulties pertaining to accessing the schemes announced by the central government aimed at reviving the MSMEs, post lockdown.
They informed that 20% of the loans announced by the centre is sanctioned only to to existing loan holders and they are disbursed only to those who have repaid their dues on time, prior to coronavirus lockdown.
"In this scenario of an unprecedented economic downturn, it is unfortunate small/micro entrepreneurs who failed to pay a due are not considered eligible to avail loans", they noted.
They pointed that over 20,000 micro industries that purely rely on job orders and have a current account with banks are left in despair, as they cannot procure any sort of loans offered by the government.
The FOCIA members also highlighted the plight of micro entrepreneurs in the wet grinder industry, "many of them don't even have a bank account, they operate with just a few machineries. We suggest loans may be provided to them through micro finances", they proposed.
"During the current GST Committee meet, we appeal to the Finance Minister to refund the fines levied on entrepreneurs for delay in remitting GST", they told.
Similarly, those small and micro businesses involved in job orders have appealed that the government should take action to slash 5% GST.
They made a joint request to BJP state secretary, Vanathi Srinivasan, to escalate their demands to the Minister of Finance and urge for appropriate steps to provide credit to entrepreneurs who have current accounts in banks.
The meeting was attended by the office bearers and secretaries of the Joint organizations.