CICU Delegation met with Sh. Som Prakash Union Minister, Industry & Commerce to discuss the PPE Kits and Finance by Banks to MSME

CICU Delegation consisting of  Upkar Singh Ahuja, President, Pankaj Sharma, General Secretary, Mukhinder Singh from SECO, Vipin Mittal from Kudu , and Sudarshan Gosian, Senior Member of CICU met with Sh. Som Prakash Union Minister, Industry & Commerce, Govt. of India and discussed PPE Kit & Finance to MSME and Other issue

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Ludhiana , June 17 – The Delegation mentioned that MSMEs are finding it difficult to manage their finances as there is no inflow of money and the overall working capital cycle has increased. Many leading public sector banks not following RBI’s policy directive. The Banks should speed-up the process of distribution of loans to the Industry at minimum documentation.

Related to PPE kits, delegation mentioned that HLL Lifecare Ltd. is an enterprise of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India, still it is not releasing payments for amounts overdue to PPE kit manufacturers, despite clear 5 days credit terms mentioned on their PO. It should be released immediately, so they can pay wages and clear vendor payments.

The testing point of all garments should be standardized and should not cancel/ban any vendor for failure on the product for the next 6 months. The cost of Pre-Dispatch Inspection & Testing at 2.0% of the invoice value is very high!, The pass/fail; shipments can be inspected/tested and to be “graded” and be suitably channelized for distribution between frontline, midline, back end warriors, forcing manufacturers into financial and operational difficulties. New instructions should be given for quality checks on inventories sitting in their warehouse. The warehouse storage may have issues related to climatic conditions and humidity, which can contribute to the reasons for failure.                                                                                                                   Sh. Som Prakash, Hon’ble Union Minister, Industry & Commerce, Govt. of India has assured the delegation that he will take up the matter with Centre Govt. and try to resolve as soon as possible.