Hyderabad, Jan 16 (KNN) With not even two weeks left for the Union Budget to be decoded, MSMEs sector, which seeks more focus from the Fin Min post demonetization impact, has pinned hope on Jaitley to consider their demands.

KNN spoke to MSME associations in southern India to know what their demands are.

The Federation of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FTAPCCI) said what MSME sectors needs the most is support from the banks.

Anil Reddy, President, FTAPCCI, told KNN that the micro and small units can only survive if the banks extend their cooperation to them.

Apart from this, FTAPPCI said that more funds should be allocated for the sector from the government. To improve ease of doing business, emphasis on digitization should be given.

Reddy said MSME sector should be extended hand holding support to go online.

S K Jain, General Secretary, Mysore Industries Association said lower interest rates and GST are the two urgent needs of the MSME sector.

“MIA has urged Finance Minister to lower interest rates for the industry and put the micro and small sectors under lower slabs in GST,” said Jain.

MIA said that government should start facilitating small sector as they do with the large sector.

“Now the time has come that small sector’s infrastructure should be given priority in order to develop MSMEs,” said general secretary of MIA.

Mysore association also said that both the state and the central government needs to contribute towards the growth of the industrial sector.

“Cluster development program should be organized in all the districts and land for a Common Facility Centre should be provided free of cost as that would be the property of the government,” said Jain.

Meanwhile, President of Indian Small Scale Paint Association (ISSPA) H.C. Satyanarayana said the association is expecting the GST to be implemented from the earliest possible date.

ISSPA also said that tariff of paints should be brought down.

“We are expecting the tariff to be 18 per cent for the industry, as paint is not a luxurious item, it is a commodity,” demanded Satyanarayana.

ISSPA suggested that the time limit to repay loans should be increased by the government up to 7 years from the limit of 5 years as it very hard for many micro and small units to return the amount because of lower turnovers, said Satyanarayana.

According to him the total expected turnover of the paint industry is Rs 40,000 crore out of which small sector contributes only Rs 10,000 crore. (KNN/RAS)