10,000 loan cases for budding entrepreneurs sanctioned: Lt Guv
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Tuesday announced sanction of over 10,000 loan cases for the 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 added.
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. Providing a much needed relief to the business community, the Lt Governor also announced that from 1st January, GST shall be reimbursed timely and automatically, without delays.
Reiterating Government’s commitment for taking comprehensive measures for the revival of the business sector, the Lt Guv 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, observed the Lt Governor.
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, (ii) price preference to MSMEs, (iii) mandatory procurement of 20% from the local MSMEs within strict time frame, (iv) release of FDR/CDR in expeditious manner on completion of work, (v) sensitization of departments, (vi) buyer-seller meet, (vii) capacity building of local MSMEs, (viii) review of SROs related to GST reimbursements, (ix) review of upper limit of allowed usage of land in industrial areas, (x) review of fee charged on additional line of business activity and (xi) review of charges on transfer of unit to a blood relation, (xii) liquidity infusion as per Atma Nirbhar Abhiyan, (xiii) Committee for examining levy of user charges in Mandis for specified products, (xiv) establishment of Anchor Units, (xv) Expansion of footprints of benefits under CGTMSE and Trade Receivables Electronic Discount System, (xvi) Mudra Loans, (xvii) Regular Stakeholder Consultations, (xviii) timely GST reimbursements and (xix) streamlining of negative list for industrial incentives, and (xx) 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,” he added.
Speaking on the Economic package, the Lt Governor observed that the economic package announced 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.
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