Bengaluru, Feb 23 (KNN) Ahead of Karnataka budget for 2021-22 which will be presented on March 8, Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA) has sought concrete measures from the state government that will empower MMSE to bounce back with confidence.

The Pre-Budget Memorandum to B S Yediyurappa, Chief Minister of Karnataka, highlighted various long pending issues such as approval for establishment of Peenya Industrial Township Authority which has not been given for nearly 2 decades and hence the Government should accord its consent without any more delay, as also extend grant of township authority similarly to Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubballi and Belagavi.

It is also requested to develop Industrial Townships in small land parcels of 10 acres so as to accommodate micro and small enterprises as was already mooted in the previous Industrial Policy of 2014-19 but which was not followed up.

''Nearly 90 per cent of MSMEs in the state are operating out of private industrial facilities, the Government should immediately direct KIADB/KSSIDC to develop new Industrial Estates, and KASSIA is ready to submit a detailed plan of action in this regard,'' KASSIA said in its Pre-Budget Memorandum.

By and large, the small industry is anticipating a much sharper focus on simplification of compliance and regulation, job creation and skilling the unemployed youth, and a swift action on sub-sectors of MSMEs that are under chronic stress, the memorandum said.

The industry body further said that there should be concrete steps taken to reduce the authority in individual (tax) inspector’s hands, which is a primary source of harassment of MSME entrepreneurs.

To boost job creation, the budget should announce incentive schemes for establishing micro enterprises in rural Karnataka outside agriculture, by building the entrepreneurial capability of rural youth through business training, easing the norms to start businesses and creating a fast loan disbursement mechanism for micro enterprises in villages and towns, it said.

To ensure that MSMEs do not go under and shut down, the budget should come up with relief packages through innovative measures such as offering possible purchase orders from the government, tax relief and swifter tax refunds, KASSIA added.

KASSIA further said that since the KSFC loans at 4 per cent to micro & small scale industries have been very useful, additional allocation of Rs 300 crore for KSFC may be considered to meet the subsidy gap.

As the infrastructure in private industrial estates is far from desirable, a budgetary allocation for Rs 100 crore may be made for revamp of private industrial estates across all districts, it suggested.

It further said that the infrastructure in industrial estates of the KIADB and KSSIDC are in pathetic condition and these agencies wash off their hands once the sale deeds are issued and local bodies do not provide funds for improving their infrastructure.

''It is therefore suggested that a separate agency called Karnataka Industrial Area Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd may be formed to specifically address and manage all industrial areas. This can be a joint venture of KSSIDC and KIADB with corpus contribution, with the minister for large & medium industries as the chairman and the SSI minister as the vice-chairman,'' KASSIA said.

The Pre-Budget Memorandum further read that municipal bodies should not levy property tax on MSMEs by considering them under commercial category as is done presently.

''A separate category for MSMEs should be created and the tax for MSMEs should be on par with ordinary residents, since they are the biggest job creators after the farm sector,'' it said.

KASSIA also thanked the Government for providing Grant of Rs 5 crore and land at concessional price at Dabaspet for setting up the KASSIA Centre of Excellence & Innovation, and in view of its salience for MSMEs, and its projected estimated cost of the project of Rs 33 crore.

KASSIA requested the government for a further grant of Rs 10 crore for commissioning the project.