Jammu, Jan 18 (KNN) The Jammu and Kashmir industry has urged the government to introduce road freight subsidy for MSMEs in order to increase exports and make the region’s products more competitive in the international market.

Speaking exclusively with KNN India, Lalit Mahajan, president of Bari Brahmana Industries Association said, Jammu and Kashmir is a land locked Union Territory, most of the raw material is procured from outside the UT and finished goods are again sent out to different States, keeping this in mind, the union government should provide marketing support to the UT’s MSMEs.

“To help the J&K MSMEs cut down their cost of operation, the road freight subsidy should be introduced,” he said.

Addressing the problems being faced by MSMEs due to the rising rate of Interest, Mahajan said that due to the rising inflation, the rate of interest is also rising. This is adding more misery to J&K MSMEs that are already under undue stress due to hike in raw material, fuel cost, cargo cost and many other factors.

The government should either fix the rate of interest or provide special relief to the UT’s  MSMEs, Mahajan told KNN.

When asked about J&K industry’s expectations from the upcoming union budget, Bari Brahmana Industries Association president said, the government should consider to increase their procurement of the goods from the Union Territory’s MSMEs.

“Due to locational disadvantages, the Local MSME Units cannot compete with the outside suppliers and keeping this in mind the government should increase their procurement from Local MSME Units,” he said.

The J&K industry also demands for the inclusion of defence items in the Public procurement policy.  (KNN Bureau)