The 30th meeting of the Standing Advisory Committee (SAC) was organized by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the Chairmanship of Shri Swaminathan J., Deputy Governor, RBI, to review the credit flow to the MSME sector.
Shri S.C.L. Das, Secretary, Ministry of MSME, joined the meeting virtually, along with the MDs and CEOs of all public and private sector banks.
On behalf of our association, Padma Shri Dr. A. Sakthivel, Honorary Chairman, Shri R. Gopalakrishnan, Treasurer and Shri Kumar Duraiswamy, Joint Secretary attended the meeting.
The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) gave a presentation on the status of MSMEs.
Shri Swaminathan J, Deputy Governor, RBI , in his keynote address mentioned the actions taken following the previous meeting and outlined new initiatives. He highlighted this was the first time industry associations were invited to participate in the SAC meeting to raise their queries and suggestions. He appreciated Padmashri Dr. A. Sakthivel, Honorary Chairman, TEA for his contribution to the textile industry and said that he was eagerly looking forward to interacting with industry stalwarts like the Honorary Chairman Padmashri Dr. A. Sakthivel.
During the open discussion, Padmashri Dr. A. Sakthivel, Honorary Chairman, TEA informed that 95% of Tiruppur’s units are MSMEs which contributed ₹44,747 crore in knitwear exports during the last financial year and highlighted that Tirupur contributes 68% of India’s total knitwear exports. He mentioned that due to the recent U.S. tariff hike, Tiruppur has been slightly affected and to address the current challenges, he emphasized the need for immediate relief measures such as:
> A two-year moratorium on existing loans,
> Implementation of the Interest Equalization Scheme (IES),
> Defined time limits for loan proposal feedback,
> Streamlined customer registration on RBI’s EDPMS portal,
> Resolution of integration issues between EDPMS and Customs, and
> Simplified closure procedures for small-value EDPMS transactions.
> He also stressed that while the RBI reduces the repo rate, banks often do not pass on the benefit immediately and only act upon specific requests.
> Regarding the CGTMSE loan scheme, he noted that although the Government provides the classifications some bankers are not implementing it effectively at the ground level.
> He further highlighted that the PM MITRA Parks represent the next leap for the textile industry and requested that special loan packages be sanctioned by all banks to exporters setting up factories in these parks.
> To support MSMEs scale up, he suggested forming a joint committee comprising RBI, banks, industry associations and the MSME Ministry, to meet periodically and discuss strategies for upgrading MSMEs.
Shri R. Gopalakrishnan, Treasurer,TEA requested an extension of the NPA classification period from 90 days to 180 days and proposed a separate policy framework for MSMEs.
All banks which participated raised and discussed their respective concerns during the session.
