10,000 loan cases sanctioned
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Oct 27: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha today announced sanction of over 10,000 loan cases for the Union Territory’s budding entrepreneurs under various programmes.
Sinha said his mantra for Jammu and Kashmir revolved around ‘four Ps’ — peace, progress, prosperity and people.
“The sanctioning of over 10,000 cases under B2V3 (Back to Village-3) self employment programme, economic package and ‘My Town-My Pride’ highlights the UT Government’s commitment to empower the youth which is one of the foremost priorities of J&K Government,” he said.
Sinha said 15,309 applications were received, out of which 10,828 have been sanctioned and an amount of Rs 100 cr has been disbursed to 6,734 applicants, identified under B2V3.
“We had taken up a target of covering at least 2 persons in each Panchayat who were in need of financial assistance for self employment,” he added.
He said the administration is committed to cover every single aspirant within the UT, who wishes to set up his/her own business.
“What distinguishes the effort this time is the fact that unlike in the past, where borrowers had to make several rounds of the bank to get a simple loan, the banks have been more than forthcoming towards helping the people,” he said.
The officers went to the villages under B2V3 and My Town-My Pride, and identified the aspirants, the LG said.
Sinha called upon the J&K Bank to not only extend financial assistance to these entrepreneurs but also provide hand-holding to them so that the youth who opt for self employment can set up sustainable businesses and flourish in their lives.
The Lt Governor also handed over a cheque of Rs 250 crore to J&K Bank as commencement of disbursement of 5 per cent Interest Subvention and coverage of re-structured accounts following 2014 floods and 2016 agitation.
“This is only the beginning and as and when requests are received for further disbursement, we will continue to meet these requests in a timely manner,” he added. Providing much needed relief to the business community, the Lt Governor also announced that from January 1 next year, GST shall be reimbursed timely and automatically without delays.
He said the Government was strengthening the grass roots democratic set up as a three-tier Panchayati Raj System is being implemented for the first time in J&K.
For empowerment of youth of J&K, Sinha said the administration is coming up with ‘YES J&K’ — a youth empowerment programme for youth engagement and employment.
The intended programme will be an institutional mechanism for providing the necessary hand-holding and support to the youth to facilitate and nurture their capabilities, he added.
“Reiterating Government’s commitment for taking comprehensive measures for the revival of the business sector, the Lt Governor observed that the committee had been constituted under the Chairmanship of KK Sharma, Advisor to the Lt Governor to suggest measures for improving competitiveness of local industry post abrogation of toll tax at Lakhanpur.
“The committee was supposed to give its report within a month of announcement of economic package. I am happy to announce that the committee has given its report within the scheduled time and the Government will soon commence the implementation of recommendations,” he said.
These recommendations contain 20 key steps that will not only enable the industry to become competitive but also flourish in times to come and become competitive not only in this region but also at the national level, he said.
The steps include i) local filter for J&K in GeM, price preference to MSMEs, mandatory procurement of 20% from the local MSMEs within strict time frame, release of FDR/CDR in expeditious manner on completion of work, sensitization of departments, buyer-seller meet, capacity building of local MSMEs, review of SROs related to GST reimbursements, review of upper limit of allowed usage of land in industrial areas, review of fee charged on additional line of business activity and review of charges on transfer of unit to a blood relation, liquidity infusion as per Atma Nirbhar Abhiyan, Committee for examining levy of user charges in Mandis for specified products, establishment of Anchor Units, Expansion of footprints of benefits under CGTMSE and Trade Receivables Electronic Discount System, Mudra Loans, Regular Stakeholder Consultations, timely GST reimbursements and streamlining of negative list for industrial incentives, and capacity building of MSMEs
“I believe that this is a comprehensive set of measures and these 20 measures are expected to go a long way in meeting the aspirations of local industry which have been looking for support from the Government,” Sinha said.
Speaking on the economic package, the Lt Governor observed that the package had 83 measures.
“I had also said that the implementation of the package shall be personally monitored by me. I am happy to announce that nearly 50% of the recommendations have already been implemented,” he added.
These include: Interest subvention of 5% in case of all borrowers. The first tranche is being released today; 50% waiver of the fixed charges of electricity/ water charges in respect of the Industries and Commercial Establishments for a period of 1 year; Release of Pending interest subvention under 2014 and 2016 rehabilitation schemes for restructured accounts, which is being done today; constitution of committee for examining delay in payments to industries and suppliers; re-structuring of functional NPAs as per RBI guidelines, the discussions with borrowers of the J&K bank have commenced and efforts are on; extension in date of filing of GST reimbursement claims up to 31st December, 2020; streamlining of sanction of loans by bank branches; extension of repayment schedule as per RBI guidelines; Infusion of additional liquidity through GECL and business support loan; Rs.1700 crore to 47,000 borrowers.
Holding of workshops related to capacity building under GeM in 20 districts, 8 districts already covered and 2 districts are being covered today; Special desk to facilitate youth and women entrepreneurs has been set up by the bank; Credit Card Scheme for artisans and weavers by enhancing the credit limit from Rs 1.00 lakh to Rs 2.00 Lakhs with interest subvention of 7% has already been approved; Customised “Help Tourism” scheme by J&K Bank for financial assistance to persons associated with the Tourism Sector has been launched and further streamlining underway; Land bank exclusively for the establishment of Food Park clusters, 4 such clusters already identified. Soft loan to bakers for ovens; Land bank in the industrial estates for the establishment of the warehouses, J&K Bank has been accordingly instructed; Committee for regular stakeholders’ consultations has been set up; Streamlining of guarantors required for working capital loan; Conduct of Workshops to remove difficulties and delay in filing reimbursement claims, 8 districts have already been covered and 2 districts are being covered today; Establishment of Consumer forums and Rationalization of restrictions on movement of manpower and material to Industrial Estates has been taken forward.
“With all these innovative measures, we are progressing towards creating a better socio-economic ecosystem in J&K, and the implementation of the economic package shall be further intensified in times to come,” the Lt Governor affirmed.
On employment generation, the Lt Governor said that 24,000 posts have been identified in different departments, with 10,000 posts already advertised, across the UT for recruitment, which will be filled soon.
“We will continue to march ahead. We will spare no efforts to ensure that the Government of J&K comes up to the expectations of the people,” he added.
“We stand committed to fast-tracking development in the Union Territory as per the dreams of the Prime Minister. We are committed to building a system based on values of transparency and accountability,” Sinha said.
“As part of this endeavour, I take this occasion to mandate achievement of 100% DBT in all individual beneficiary schemes within two months, he added.
Kewal Kumar Sharma, Advisor to the Lt Governor; BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner, Finance Department; R K Chhibber J&K Bank Chairman & Managing Director; Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary, Power Development Department, and Information Department; Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Lt Governor; Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, Commissioner/Secretary, Industries and Commerce Department and Dr Syed Abid Rasheed Shah, CEO Mission Youth (YES J&K) were present on the occasion.
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