From Our Special Correspondent

Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Apr 8: Senior Congress leader and former Industries Minister R V Deshpande has urged the Narendra Modi regime to treat the entire lockdown period as ‘zero-period’ and ensure that no interest to be charged for the loan availed by Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in view of the sharp slump in all types of economic activities.

In a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, copies of which have been released to the media on Wednesday, Deshpande said as the loan amounts availed by them could not be deployed for productive purpose during the lockdown period it was necessary that the banks must be directed not to charge interest on loans.

R V Deshpande

Deshpande said MSMEs are deeply hit and they are directly bearing the costs of the shutdown without relief support.

He demanded that the Centre must wave off interest for six months and reschedule all repayment of loans to payments due from March to September 2020 to the end of repayment period.

The Congress leader said the relief measures so far announced by the Government is concerned with BPL families only except for the RBI announcement regarding interest rate cut, making available additional credit facilities moratorium on repayments.

After the Lockdown is over, many industrial Units are going to be shutdown or partially open. Unemployment is going to be major issue, as MSME sector is major employment provider.

Therefore, he said the MSME sector deserves all the help and handholding during this difficult period.

He sought waver of all taxes to local bodies, fixed charges on electrical installations, property tax for next six months, and waiver of all penalties for failure in compliance such as GST, PF, ESI, TDS during lockdown.

Industrial units are having several new issues cropping-up daily and request Ministry of MSME to set-up a Control Room/Helpline Numbers to address issues instantly and help the industries at this time of crisis, he said.