Centre destroying economy by refusing cash aid to MSMEs: Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi, Jun 8 (KNN) Terming the current Narendra Modi led NDA government as 'Demon 2.0', the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has accused the government of actively destroying the country's economy by refusing cash aid to people and Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

Gandhi took to the micro-blogging site twitter and said,'' The Govt is actively destroying our economy by refusing to give cash support to people and MSMEs. This is Demon 2.0.''

The Congress has also been demanding an economic stimulus package for the MSME sector, which provides employment to a large number of people, together with cash in the hands of people, to help generate demand.

Recently, a few days back, reacting over the All India Manufacturers Organisation (AIMO) survey’s report which revealed that one third of the MSMEs in India are closing down permanently, the Congress leader had said it would be criminal not to support them with cash.

''11 crore Indian’s are employed by MSMEs. 1/3 of them are closing down permanently. It’s criminal for GOI not to give them cash support immediately,'' Gandhi had tweeted.

In another tweet, slamming the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi had said that the worst is yet to come.

''Moody has rated Modi’s handling of India’s economy a step above JUNK. Lack of support to the poor and the MSME sector means the worst is yet to come,” he tweeted.

As per the AIMO survey, around 35% of MSMEs have been shutting down their operations despite the financial packages announced by the Government of India.

The study reveals that the financial stimulus announced by the centre doesn't qualify start-ups, which account for over 11 per cent of the MSMEs in the country.

The results have been compiled from 46,525 responses that AIMO collected from all around the country across multiple industry segments including self-employed, corporate CEOs, MSME owners, employees and experts.

''The most striking aspect was that 35% of MSMEs and 41% of the self-employed respondents said that they see no chance of recovery in their business and have begun shutting down their operations, said K E Raghunathan, Immediate Past President, AIMO.

''To put this in perspective, India has over 65 million MSMEs employing over 150 million people and over 130 million people are self-employed. This kind of Mass Destruction of Business has not been witnessed since our Independence,'' he added.