To
Smt Nirmala Sitharaman
Union Finance Minister
Dear Smt Stharaman,
Kindly refer to my letter dated 10-9-2020 regarding the problems faced by small businesses in repaying loans taken from NBFCs as a result of the lockdown restrictions and the fall in demand for services, an inevitable consequence of the COVID19 crisis. I have enclosed a copy of that letter for your ready reference.
The NBFCs are pressing the small business owners to repay the loans with interest and they are resorting to extra-Constitutional means to intimidate the small businesses into parting with their meagre assets. In my earlier letter, I had pointed out one instance of a taxi car owner committing suicide in Andhra Pradesh. If your Ministry and RBI do not intervene, I am afraid there will be many more such cases.
Your Ministry is prepared to go to the rescue of big businesses and ask the financial institutions to allow them to restructure the defaulted loans but, when it comes to the small enterprises, no such benevolence seems to be forthcoming.
Since the COVID crisis is an “act of God” as you yourself have described, it is not the fault of the small enterprises that they are unable to secure sufficient clientele to be able to repay the loans taken from the banks and the NBFCs. The government should therefore assume responsibility for this and come to the rescue of such small enterprises.
May I appeal to the Ministry of Finance to intervene urgently in this matter?
Regards,
Yours sincerely,
E A S Sarma
Former Secretary to GOI
Visakhapatnam
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