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CAIT writes to FM for trade relief package, interest waiver
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SME Times News Bureau | 03 Apr, 2020
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has written to Union
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to seek a relief package for
traders, including waiver on loan interest for lockdown period.
It
stressed the need for a strong stimulus package for small businesses in
the country in view of the packages announced for other sectors of the
economy.
Noting that EMIs have been deferred for three months on
certain loans, the traders body said in its letter: "Also the bank
interest on CC (cash credit) /OD (overdraft account)/TL (term loan) or
any kind of loan should be waived for the effected period of lockdown."
hTe
waiver would allow all Indians to survive with the reduced payouts and
for businesses to survive the zero-revenue period, it pointed out.
"Care
must be taken that the interest recovery is not spread out to later
months or period and, similarly, banks may restrict interest payments on
deposits to match the loss of interest on bank assets.
In the
letter, CAIT National Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal also sought a
cap on the residential and commercial rents for the lockdown period.
"Residential
and commercial rents be capped at between 10-25 per cent during this
period, to allow landlords to see through such period and yet allow
individuals and businesses to see through the period of no revenues or
low salaries."
Further, the traders' body has also sought the government permission to cap the salary of the workers in the segment.
It
said that the burden of ensuring employees see through this period even
when no revenue is accruing to the businesses does lie with the
businessmen but the extent of such employee salaries need to be kept at
such level that these very businesses are in a position to re-engage the
workforce while the workforce is able to see through with respectable
living.
"Accordingly, we propose: payment by employers of 50 per
cent of regular salaries for those earning up to Rs 15,000 per month in
gross salaries; 30 per cent for those earning up to Rs 50,000 per month
and 25 per cent for those earning above Rs 50,000 per month; All those
not covered directly under employment will have to be provided for
separately," it said.
CAIT also sought suspension of payment of other taxes and levies and compliances.
It
said that the government may waive or defer taxes and levies during
this period so that businesses may save on cash and reserves to meet the
abovesaid obligations at a time of little-to-no revenues. All recovery
pressure by the tax officials of direct and indirect tax be kept on hold
for a period of six months, it said.
Regarding power bills, it said that only actual consumption must be charged and no fixed charges to be levied for three months.
The
traders' body asked for an interest subvention at 3 per cent per annum
in loans to MSMEs, as a measure to improve the sustainability in the
market.
The present norms related to collateral security need to be relaxed in view of present economic scenario, it added.
Talking
of the recent relief measures announced by the government and the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Khandelwal said that relief given so far
needs to be enhanced to take care of the Indian economy suffering from
the slowdown, liquidity crunch and uncertainty.
"The government
of India and various state governments have given different relief
packages for various sectors of the economy, especially farmers in the
past years. However, this time a strong stimulus package is needed for
the small businesses who are the contributor of major chunk of revenue
to the government treasury and are also the backbone of the Indian
economy," it said.
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