Sunday, 29 February 2004 - 1:06 AM

The TANSTIA leaders, while taking note of the announcement made on Friday on establishment of a Rs 10,000-crore fund to provide loans to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) at two per cent concessional interest, pointed out that already a Credit Guarantee Fund (CGF) had been introduced for the SSIs. "The new SME fund may remain sluggish and dormant just as its elder brother (CGF) unless some monitoring agency is set up." They called for allocation of a portion of the fund to the State Financial Corporations (SFCs) for rehabilitation of sick units and meeting losses from one-time settlements (OTS) with borrowers.

Sunday, 29 February 2004 - 1:08 AM

The Chennai Plastics Manufacturers and Merchants Association (CHEPMA) president, G. Sankaran, welcomed the reduction in peak customs duty on non-agricultural goods and abolition of the special addition duty (SAD) of four per cent. He pointed out that in the past six months, the cost of imported plastic raw materials had risen by about 60 per cent. The situation might worsen because China was importing such raw materials in large quantities. "In these circumstances, it is necessary to bring down the peak customs duty on plastic raw materials further to 10 per cent."