SME Times News Bureau | 03 Apr, 2020
In a 10-point agenda, industry body CII has said that Indian micro, small
and medium enterprises (MSMEs) special treatment considering the ongoing
slowdown due to COVID-19 infection across the country.
In the latest note to the government, CII has made a range of suggestions for
easing the stress of the industry and economy in the current testing times.
Some of the key suggestions include the following.
One, while the government has permitted the suppliers of essential commodities
to operate during the lockdown period, transportation bottlenecks of varies
nature have led to serious challenges across states. We must work in the
direction of addressing these bottlenecks urgently, which would include
measures like prioritizing trucks carrying essential goods for fast clearances
at check-posts, reducing multiple checks and stoppages by police, ensuring
provision of food and water for drivers on the route, and relaxing payment of
toll tax during the lockdown period.
Two, lack of staff of various stakeholders, including customs, CFS, logistics
etc. in the trading eco-system has resulted in inordinate delay in delivery of
essential items and likewise delay in export of essential items. Customs, Port
Terminals, CFS are facing difficulty in clearances of even essential commodity
due to lack of availability drivers, forklift/top lifter crane/kalmar
operators, labor etc. Staff under this category need to be facilitated for
reporting with necessary precautions. There is also need to waive off the late
fees on delayed filing of Bills of Entry, demurrage and detention charges on
the traders. The ICEGATE should also be updated not to calculate late filing
fees upto 30th April.
Three, all exports shipments of essential and emergency commodity, which are
self-sealed by E-Sealing provision of the Customs, should be considered as
direct Let Export Order and should be allowed Direct Port Entry instead of
being routed through parking plaza with a lot of human interaction. Trade
financing has also become an issue as physical submission of documents to bank
is currently difficult. To overcome this, businesses may be allowed to submit
the necessary documents online in a secured manner.
Four, the government may consider duty exemption for items being imported for
fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, like protective body gear, isolation chambers,
ventilators, testing kits etc.
Five, while essential commodities attract a penalty, if order fulfilment is not
done in stipulated time to government bodies, no Penalty should be levied for
the time being, as the industry is facing severe crunch of Manpower, Raw
Material and packaging materials.
Six, the government may consider including soaps, handwash, sanitizers and
packaging industry as ‘Essential Commodities’ so that their production and
supplies continue. Hand Sanitisers are unaffordable for the common people.
Reduction of GST from the current level of 18% to nil would help in making if
more affordable. Also, fumigation / pesticide service providers should be
included in the list of essential goods so as to help the private sector to
share the responsibility of sanitization with the government.
Seven, many educational and higher centres of learning are developing medical
equipment and products such as a low-cost test kit for the virus and high
efficacy sanitizer. They should be encouraged to transferring the technology to
the industry on a royalty basis.
Eight, with the financial year coming to close, it is important to allow a
fraction of the staff in banking and financial services to work onsite to
complete international client obligations like book closure and regulation
filing between last week of March and the first ten days of April 2020.
Nine, MSMEs in this challenging time need to be treated with special care. CII
recommends that interest rates for their borrowing should be reduced by at
least 2% for next one year. Also, essential commodity manufacturers SMEs should
be allowed 20%-30% additional working capital for 3-4-month, without the need
of additional collaterals or securities. State/Central government should
speedily clear the pending dues on SMES engaged in provision of essential
commodities.
Ten, there is ambiguity in interpretation of ‘Essential goods and Services’ and
their supply chain across states. The government may consider having a uniform
definition of ‘essential goods and services’ across all states to include
IT/ITES/ Telecom/Banking, financial services, among others. Further, with view
to cut time in seeking approvals and reduce burden of the authorities,
companies in this challenging time should be allowed to self-certify for
undertaking production, transport, distribution etc of essential goods and
services.
"We are confident that these recommendations would prove to be helpful in
minimizing the pains of the lockdown. We remain committed to work with the
government and provide our regular feedback in this time of COVID-19 crisis,
which is impacting one and all" stated Banerjee.