BENGALURU: Congress leader RV Deshpande on Wednesday urged finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to help out the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) as they have been badly hit by the lockdown, and many may even face closure post lockdown.
The MSMEs, he said in a letter, are the largest employer, but will find it difficult to pay salaries to employees during the lockdown period. He suggested the ESI Corporation pay 70% of salaries of eligible MSME employees treating their lockdown period as “sick leave”. Once the unit reopens, reimburse 80% of the wages for three months subject to a cap of Rs 12,000 per person, he said.
Lockdown period should be treated as zeroperiod, Deshpande said, and added no interest should be charged for loans availed by the MSME units as they could not deploy the loan for productive purposes. He sought waiver of all taxes to local bodies, fixed charges on electrical installations, property tax, etc. for the next six months.
The MSMEs, he said in a letter, are the largest employer, but will find it difficult to pay salaries to employees during the lockdown period. He suggested the ESI Corporation pay 70% of salaries of eligible MSME employees treating their lockdown period as “sick leave”. Once the unit reopens, reimburse 80% of the wages for three months subject to a cap of Rs 12,000 per person, he said.
Lockdown period should be treated as zeroperiod, Deshpande said, and added no interest should be charged for loans availed by the MSME units as they could not deploy the loan for productive purposes. He sought waiver of all taxes to local bodies, fixed charges on electrical installations, property tax, etc. for the next six months.
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