Chennai, Jun 9 (KNN) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has written to 12 Chief Ministers urging them to come together to press for a moratorium on loan repayment for MSMEs and small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reportedly, Stalin, on Tuesday, wrote Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana, and West Bengal where he said that in April-May last year, when the nationwide lockdown was announced by the Centre, a moratorium was offered on repayment of loans for such borrowers.

“However, in April-June this year, when lockdown was imposed based on local conditions by the respective States, similar relief to borrowers is not being provided for. I request all the States to write to both the Union Finance Minister and the Governor, Reserve Bank of India, to prevail upon them to offer moratorium on repayment of loans for at least the first two quarters of 2021-2022 to all small borrowers with outstanding up to Rs 5 crore in view of the lockdown induced by the second wave of COVID-19,” Stalin added.

The absence of such relief measures would force many businesses to close and would lead to widespread economic distress. These MSMEs and small businesses are the mainstay of our economy and employment generation, he said.

The Chief Minister further said he has already taken up this issue with the Government of India with a request to provide a moratorium on repayment of loans.