Date:12/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/12/stories/2008121254110500.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Sops to micro and small enterprises sought

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The Industrial and Financial Reconstruction Association for Small and Tiny Enterprises , a Chennai-based body, has appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to order an immediate establishment of a corpus of Rs. 10,000 crore for extending various sops to micro and small enterprises (MSEs). This would improve balance sheets of the beleaguered MSEs. In a memorandum presented to the Prime Minister early this week, the Association wanted the Union government to order freezing of outstanding loans of the micro, small and medium enterprises as on June 30, 2008, and treat them as term loans with a repayment period of 24 months at an interest rate of eight per cent. New line of credit, equivalent to 80 per cent of the outstanding loans at an eight per cent interest rate, should be extended to tide over any liquidity problem of the MSEs, according to a release.