Interactive session held between JK bank, leading industrialist in Jammu

Jammu: Directorate Industries & Commerce Jammu Thursday organised an interactive session between J&K Bank and leading industrialists from Jammu Division.
On the occasion, Chairman Jammu and Kashmir Bank, RK Chhibber informed about the launch of SMA-2 Scheme of J&K Bank launched by Lieutenant Governor, GC Murmu on Wednesday (June 24, 2020.
He informed that the new Scheme for SMA -2 shall be having a corpus of Rs 2600 Cr and shall cover 80000 beneficiaries under MSME category including Hotels and guest houses.
He addressed the majority of the issues of the industrialists on spot and assured the gathering that their other genuine issues shall be addressed as soon as possible and thanked the Industries & Commerce Department for organising the interaction.
President of J&K Bank, Arun Gandotra dwelt at length about the details of Scheme highlighting that the Emergency Credit Line to Business/ MSMEs announced under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan was applicable only for accounts which were Non-SMA, SMA-0 or SMA-1 as on 29-02-2020 with borrowing up to 25 crore and turnover up to Rs 100 crore, however the category of beneficiaries under SMA-2 category were ineligible under the Scheme.
The Scheme announced Thursday dealt only with cases which fall under SMA-2 Category as on 29-02-2020. The Rate of interest for loan under the scheme has been kept at 8.8% per annum and has to be repaid in 24 months.
The Industrialists while appreciating the initiatives undertaken by the J&K Bank under the dynamic leadership of Chhibber requested his intervention for addressing the issues faced by them in day-to-day functioning of their units. The issues highlighted by them included higher rate of interest, non acceptance of LC of J&K Bank by some banks, problems in acceptance of Bank Guarantee by the Northern Command, hardships faced by the Micro units particularly the ones under PMEGP in availing finance at the branch level, difficulty in availing additional finance from the bank and upgrading the CIBIL rating in case of beneficiaries going for OTS with the Bank.
It was suggested that the Bank may come out with a Corporate Credit Card and hold awareness camps for NPA and obtaining a mortgage equivalent to the amount of loan sought.
Dr Ashwani Kumar from MSME-DI Jammu highlighted the importance of Champion Portal for registering grievances by the MSMEs and requested for conducting regular meetings of the bank with Director Industries alongwith representation from MSME Department for handling of sick units as per RBI norms.
Speaking on the occasion, Director Industries & Commerce Jammu Anoo Malhotra asked the representatives of MSME Department to organise UAM Melas and awareness camps about TReDS platform for the benefit of MSMEs.
The Bank officers held one to one meetings with the unit holders whose units have turned NPA or stressed for resolution of their genuine finance related problems which could be overcome with the intervention of the bank.