Srinagar: Federation of Chambers of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) has solicited the intervention of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Secretary Atal Duloo for ‘re-establishing a foundation of support and trust besides building of positive relationship between the government and MSMEs by honoring commitments made under various government policies and schemes.’
Regretting the feedback received from its constituent associations regarding non-compliance of commitments and ‘negative approach of authorities’, FCIK has called for revisiting the provisions and mechanism for time-bound approval and disbursement of various incentive schemes, FCIK said in a media statement to Ziraat Times.
The Presidents of various Industrial Associations from across Kashmir valley had called on Advisory Committee of FCIK to apprise about the ordeal of entrepreneurs in availing Turnover incentive provided to MSMEs / large units @ 3% and 2% respectively under the Industrial policy of 2021-30. Regretfully the incentive was subjected to annual overall capping of 50 Crores diluting the very commitment of 3% and 2% to MSMEs and large units, FCIK statement said.
According to Association Presidents, the enterprises had been subjected to cumbersome procedures while asking for multitudinous documents and NOCs from various quarters to support their applications for turnover incentives.
The Presidents informed that the claims had been subjected to pre-disbursal audit and other frivolous procedures before a list of beneficiaries was released by the Directorate of Industries and Commerce on 27th of March.
They said that it was to their utter surprise to find that the incentives approved by Divisional Level Committees (DLCs) had further been reduced by a whopping 85% making its essence preposterous.
“How ridiculous is it that an entrepreneur from Srinagar and another from Baramullah have been sanctioned a sum of Rupees 296 and 539 respectively after a long wait and fulfillment of formalities”, they said, adding that significant number of beneficiaries mentioned in the list had to receive peanuts only.
The Presidents further informed that the Directorate of Industries and Commerce Kashmir has sanctioned just Rs 3.80 Crores for 371 enterprises of Kashmir valley against the total funds of approximately Rs 25 Crores igniting a fresh debate on gross regional disparities, the statement added.
“But then the bills for even this amount have not been cleared at treasuries till the end of last fiscal making the authorities to promise their clearance during the current year”, informed presidents.
Acknowledging the grievances of FCIK constituents, the Advisory Committee assured them to take up the issue with UT Administration for revisiting their curtailment in the scheme considering that any curtailment made in the promised incentives broke the very confidence of enterprises on government policies.
The Advisory Committee regretted that majority of entrepreneurs had not applied for the Turnover incentive only to save themselves from time-waste and mental agony which underscored need for change in the mechanism for its disbursement.
“It would have been fruitful and in accordance with ‘ease of doing business’ if authorities linked turnover incentives to the sales returns filed by enterprises commercial taxes department” opined FCIK adding that the incentive due to each enterprise could directly be credited to their account without any paperwork.
FCIK has also called for removal of inter- regional and intra-regional imbalances in disbursement of Turnover incentives considering geographical diversity and levels of industrial development across the Union Territory.
“While Kashmir region as a whole has received only 3.80 Crores from a total of 25 Crores, the district level distribution with Kashmir also raises questions on balanced development”, stated FCIK adding that while Srinagar and Pulwama districts remained at top with allocation of Rs 1.24 Crores and Rs 1.15 Crores, the share of districts of Shopian and Bandipora was abysmally low at 0.33 lacs and 2.60 lacs.
