Inspector raj galore, small companies seek succor

By Staff
|
Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, June 4 (UNI) An Assocham survey today claimed that there was no let-up in Inspector Raj for the small and medium companies, notwithstanding the pious pronoucements by the government to the contrary and said rising interest rates, bureaucratic hassles and difficult external environment was adding the woes of the sector.

There is no smooth sailing for the innumerable small companies, most of whom are self-managed, and first generation entrepreneur despite a decade and a half of reforms.

The survey put the figure for the loss of productivity on account of these hurdles at around 30 per cent.

A new phenomena which is hitting hard the smaller entrepreneurs was a phenomenal increase in interest rates from seven per cent to 15 per cent. While a large corporate would have no difficulty in leveraging a loan, smaller and medium entreprises have to sweat it out with bank managers for loans for their companies.

The survey was released here today by Assocham SME Committee Chairman Bikky Khosla and was a joint endeavour of ASSOCHAM aand Tradeindia.com.

SME's total contribution to total exports is as high as 60 per cent and are also the largest employer in the industrial sector.

The survey infact claimed that the number of inspectors visiting the unit may have gone up on an average from 35 to 45 as a result of more services having been brought under the tax net.

Mr Khosla said that survey findings will be given to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), and regretted that Prime Minister Manmoham Singh was a harbinger of liberalisation and a strong believer in eliminating the Inspector Raj but it was under his dispensation that bureaucracy has strengthened its golden business.

The study suggests that there be only one inspector for examining the records of SMEs in PF, excise, bonus and sales tax.

''Sectoral arrangements X X X Eds picking up here from line one para seven of DC 8, INDUSTRY-SME-GROWTH.

UNI

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