FHRAI seeks special credit guarantee window for hospitality sector
PTI
New Delhi |
Updated on
May 02, 2021
‘The sector is under tremendous financial stress due to the ongoing lockdown’ The Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India on Sunday said it has requested Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to provide a special credit guarantee window to the hospitality sector under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS). The industry body has asked the government to standardise and align the tenure and the moratorium facilities floated under ECLGS 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0, FHRAI said in a statement.
‘Align tenure’
“The repayment schedule for loans taken under ECLGS 1.0 and 2.0 are likely to begin now, but unfortunately due to the ongoing lockdown many establishments do not have the cash flow to repay it.Therefore, it is imperative to align the tenure and moratorium facilities under ECLGS 1.0 and 2.0 with ECLGS 3.0,” FHRAI Vice-President Gurbaxish Sing
Retailers seek clarity on ECLGS 3.0
May 01, 2021
Hotel Association urges govt to ease scheme conditions
The retail industry has sought clarity from the Finance Ministry on the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 3.0 and has urged the government to extend benefits to the sector under the scheme.
At the same time, the hospitality industry has urged the Centre to allow even hotels with no borrowings too to seek benefits under the scheme and utilise the credit line for any business purpose, including repayment of loans and interest payment.
Retailers Association of India in its submission to Finance Ministry, said while the sector was mentioned during the announcement of ECLGS 2.0, there is no clarity on whether the sector will be able to avail benefits in the notification which announced ECLGS 3.0. Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, Retailers Association of India, said the industry has sought clarity from the government on this issue. “RAI has urged the government to make funds
ISSUE DATE: May 10, 2021
UPDATED: May 1, 2021 19:48 IST
Workers at Matrix Clothing Factory in Gurugram, Haryana, in February 2021, by Chandradeep Kumar
The concern in Prakash Padikkal’s voice is quite palpable. Padikkal, 65, owns Havistha Steel, a company in Navi Mumbai that makes equipment and storage tanks for the chemicals, food and pharmaceutical sectors. Classified as an essential business, Padikkal is allowed to keep work going, exempted from the restrictions in place in Maharashtra, which were just extended from May 1 until May 15. Nonetheless, he says he faces a financial squeeze, with low demand because of various Covid-19 lockdowns across India on the one side and rising input costs on the other. He says prices of one input mild steel have shot up from near Rs 40 a kg to about Rs 85 a kg, and that he is stuck with the loss since many of his contracts use fixed prices.
Kanara Chamber seeks support for MSME sector
April 30, 2021
The Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has urged the Union Finance Minister to address the problems of MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) sector following the second wave of Covid and lockdowns associated with it.
In a letter to the Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, the KCCI President, Isaac Vas, said that operations are down the MSME sector, which is facing the challenge of meeting commitments such as payment of salaries and wages, rents, power dues, tax dues and bank loan servicing commitments.
Requesting the Government to expedite the refunds of income tax, GST, duty drawback, he also sought the interest and penalty waiver on payment of power dues to Escoms (electricity supply companies) for MSMEs and domestic users.
Fintech solutions to small business credit woes
ET Spotlight
All the things I could do if I had a little money” goes a line from the song “Money, Money, Money” by the Swedish pop group ABBA in the 1970s, a humongous success in its time. It is a sentiment those running micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) would heartily endorse. MSMEs are a vast and diverse category of nearly eight crore units contributing around 35 per cent of GDP, but almost all of them have one feature in common – they find it hard to raise finance. Unable to satisfy the rigorous lending criteria of banks and non banking finance companies (NBFCs), weighed down by buyers’ delay payments and suppliers clamouring for quick settlements, most find themselves struggling for working capital, and can hardly think of capacity expansion, even when their businesses are doing fairly well. The MSME credit gap has been estimated at Rs 16 lakh crore ($215 billion).