The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Shri Mahabir Prasad has urged the banks to come forward in providing loans to the unemployed youth of the country without collateral. He said since the Government in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises vouches for the entrepreneur, there should not be any problem on the part of the banks to provide loans to these entrepreneurs. He was speaking at the Parliamentary Consultative Committee meeting attached to the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises here today. The Minister said the Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Small Industries (CGFSI) was launched by the Government to make available collateral-free credit to the micro and small enterprise sector. Both the existing and the new enterprises are eligible to be covered under the scheme. The Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), established a Trust named Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Small Industries (CGTSI) to implement the Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme for Small Industries. The scheme was formally launched on August 30, 2000 and is in operation with effect from 1st January 2000. The corpus of CGTSI is being contributed by the Government and SIDBI in the proportion of 4:1 respectively and have contributed Rs.1346.54 crore to the corpus of the Trust up to May 31, 2007. Based on the future requirement, the corpus is likely to be raised to Rs.2500 crore.
The Minister explained various achievements of the Coir Board to the Members. He said development of “Pithplus”, for composting coir pith, “Coirret”, for speeding up the retting process, coir plywood, “Anugraha”, the compact metallic loom for weaving coir geotextiles, Anupam loom with inbuilt provision for providing training in weaving to woman artisans are a few of the achievements of the Board. The Minister said in the 11th Plan a new scheme has been announced for modernization and technological upgradation of coir industries. The aim of the scheme is to create additional employment of 1.76 lakh at a cost of Rs.1654 crore.
Shri A.C.Jose, Chairman Coir Board said that the Board had been implementing the Coir Board Coir Workers’ Group Personal Accident Insurance Scheme for the benefit of coir workers in the country. The scheme came into effect on 1st December 1998. The scheme provides for compensation up to a maximum amount of Rs.50,000/-.
Some of the Members congratulated the Minister for the research and development work undertaken by the Coir Board. They however felt that the research findings need to be popularized among the masses and all the stakeholders should benefit from it. They also hailed the Minister for the new upgradation and rejuvenation programme for the coir industry in the 11th Plan.
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MG/SR
(Release ID :28979)