Thiruvananthapur, June 27 (KNN) Under the CM Entrepreneurship Development Programme, the Kerala Financial Corporation (KFC) has raised the upper loan limit Rs 2 crore.The micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in the state will now get loans a 5 per cent interest.

The Kerala government will provide a subsidy of 3 per cent with KFC contributing the 2 per cent to make the interest rate 5 per cent.

Up until now, KFC has assisted 2, 122 units under the scheme and its target is to lend to 2, 500 enterprises in five years.

The cooperation will aim to provide loans to 500 enterprises every year and to meet this goal, the KFC will set aside Rs 500 crore every year.

The industrial units that aspire to avail benefits under this programme must have MSME registration and the age of the chief entrepreneur should be below 50 years.

The age limit for SC/ST entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs and non-resident Keralites is fixed at 55 years.

Loans are available for starting new ventures and modernising the existing ones. The loan will be cover up to 90 per cent of the project cost.

Big projects will get higher disbursements. In that case loans up to Rs 2 crore will be sanctioned at the rate of 5 per cent and the balance at normal interest rates.

The repayment period is up to 10 years. However, the interest subsidy will be limited to the first five years only.

KFC also declared business campaign with 50 per cent waiver in processing fee for new MSME loans and 0.25 per cent interest discount for top rated clients as part of International MSME day celebrations.  (KNN Bureau)