MINISTER OF SMALL SCALE INDUSTRIES & AGRO AND RURAL INDUSTRIES ( SHRI MAHABIR PRASAD )
(a) to (d) : A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) TO (d) IN RESPECT OF
THE LOK SABHA STARRED Q.NO. 131 FOR REPLY ON 14.7.2004
(a) & (b): Yes, Sir. To facilitate loans at lower rate of
interest for small-scale industries (SSI) sector, the Public
Sector Banks have been advised to adopt the interest rate band of
2% above and below their respective Prime Lending Rates (PLRs).
For revival of sick SSI units, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has
issued detailed revised guidelines to the banks in January,2002
based on the recommendations of the Working Group set up under the
Chairmanship of Shri S.S. Kohli, which includes, inter alia,
change in the definition of the sick SSI units, norms for deciding
on their viability, concessional finance etc. The revised
guidelines will facilitate the banks to detect sicknes at an early
stage and take corrective action for revival of the potentially
viable sick SSI units.
(c) & (d): The promotion and development of Small Scale
Industries(SSIs) has been a conscious policy of the Government.
High importance is attached to the development of this sector
because of its ability to generate large-scale employment, which
is next only to agriculture. While the development of SSIs is
primarily the responsibility of the State/UT Governments, the
Central Government supports and supplements the efforts of the
State/UT Government through implementation of various
schemes/programmes uniformly throughout the country. The major
schemes implemented by the Government relate to improving the flow
of credit, infrastructure development, technology upgradation ,
marketing and entrepreneurial development.
The recent initiatives taken for the promotion and development of
SSIs include cluster development, enhancement of composite loan
limit from Rs. 25 lakh to Rs. 50 lakh, advice to banks to adopt
interest rate band of 2% above and below prime lending rates,
providing collateral free loan upto Rs. 25 lakh to SSI units
having good track record, setting up of Small and Medium
Enterprises(SMEs) Fund of Rs. 10,000 crore under SIDBI,
enhancement of loan limit under Laghu Udyami Credit Card (LUCC)
from Rs. 2 lakh to Rs. 10 lakh, etc.
