MSME ministry to suggest Rs 2 lakh withdrawal limit for small units

New Delhi, Dec 6 (IANS) In a bid to help the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, Minister of State Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary on Tuesday said the ministry will soon send a proposal to the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister to increase withdrawal limit to Rs 2 lakh per week for the industry stakeholders.

"We will have a discussion in Parliament. We are having talks with MSME associations and the suggestions that we have received — such as increasing withdrawal limit from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh and removal of penalties and interest — will be put before the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister. We will do what we can," Chaudhary said on the sidelines of the Assocham National Summit on E-Commerce for MSMEs.

At the same time, addressing at the seminar he stressed, "We need to be a cashless economy, to be the best in the world." "Demonetisation," he said, "will help to control the fiscal deficit,"

The minister said the repayment of loans by farmers is about 92 per cent, which is much higher than big-value business loans.

"Encourage MSMEs to initiate skill development for rail and defence manufacturing," Chaudhary said.

The minister said the government is witnessing a new trend with many MSMEs taking the e-commerce route to establish themselves in the Indian market.

"We are using internet not only as a marketing tool but also as a tool to enable them (MSMEs) to understand if a unique product has high demand in the market," the minister was quoted in a statement as saying.

"Indian MSMEs are looking at e-commerce as an innovative tool to build fresh business models," he added.

Chaudhary said that by adopting e-commerce, MSMEs will achieve significant advantages, such as increased revenues and margins, improved market reach, access to new markets, cost savings in marketing and communication spend, customer acquisition and improved customer experience.