In a press statement issued on behalf of the MSME industries, a representation was submitted to Nirmala Sitharaman, the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Minister for MSME, Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister of State for Finance and Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Minister of State for MSMEs, and to Dr. Palanivel Thiagarajan, the Minister for Finance, Government of Tamil Nadu, Chennai.
In a press statement issued on behalf of the MSME industries, a representation was submitted to Nirmala Sitharaman, the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Minister for MSME, Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister of State for Finance and Pratap Chandra Sarangi, Minister of State for MSMEs, and to Dr. Palanivel Thiagarajan, the Minister for Finance, Government of Tamil Nadu, Chennai.
"At the outset, we wish to thank the Finance Minister for granting various stimulus packages to cover the financial impact on the MSME sector during the first wave of COVID-19.
With the support, our members have been able to survive through the FY 2020-21. However, we are well aware that the second wave of COVID-19 has been highly strenuous on the entire society as a whole. The MSME industry has been extremely affected. Our members had taken the social responsibility towards the welfare of their employees and all persons in their supply chain. The expenditure for the welfare of the employees and COVID treatment has been huge," said the members of CODISSIA.
"We have been on complete lockdown and have not been able to operate business for the last four weeks. The complete lockdown of all industries and commercial establishments has now been extended further for one week and considering the high number of COVID-19 cases, we are not confident when we will be allowed to resume normal business operations. There has not been any support from banks / financial institutions. In spite of all the financial hurdles, considering that our employees have to meet their basic requirements, we have made due payment of wages/salaries for the month of May, 2021.
There has been no business operations for the entire period of four weeks—zero collections from our customers and this has completely paralysed our working capital.
We also request the Government to extend the moratorium period for another year for relief from both Term Loan repayment and interest dues till 30th June 2022.
At this juncture, it is completely impossible for us to make payment towards taxes — GST / Income Tax which fall due during June and July 2021. It is our sincere request to extend the due dates for all tax payments due during June and July 2021.
The late fees applicable on delayed filing of GSTR 1 shall also be waived. We sincerely request that the above due dates be extended without any condition as to the turnover or tax payable.
Further, due to the complete lockdown, we are not allowed to travel even for submission of documents to banks. In this regard, banks have initiated charging Penal Charges/Penal Interest. Therefore, the time limit for submission of stock/book debts statements, end use certificates, renewal of bank limits shall be given a blanket extension of 90 days and there shall not be any levy of Penal Charges / Penal Interest on any account during the period April 2021 to July 2021.
Objective of our members has always been towards due and timely compliance. In this regard, it is the sincere request of the trade and industry sector that:
1. There shall be full waiver of Interest and Penalty on all Income Tax and GST due dates during April 2021 to July 2021.
2. New Financial Stimulus Package (apart from rescheduling of loan availed last year) considering the paralysed state of the MSME sector caused due to the second wave of COVID-19.
3. Relaxation in furnishing of Stock/Book debts statements, documents for renewal of working Capital Limited during lock-down period and waiver of Penal Charges/Interest during the period from April 2021 to July 2021.
We humbly request the Government to consider extending the moratorium period and also to grant us the reasonable relief as sought by us for the benefit of the Trade and Industry sector at large," requested the members of CODISSIA.