Andhra Pradesh government releases first instalment of ReStart package for MSMEs

Andhra Pradesh government on Friday released the first instalment of the Rs 1,100 crore ReStart package for Mirco, Small and Medium sector (MSME) enterprises. The state government released Rs 450 crore out of the total Rs 1,100 crore that was committed to the sector.

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Relief for MSMEs

In a statement, the state government said that the Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy released the amount despite the "deep financial crisis". It was done during a video conference with district collectors and entrepreneurs here. Earlier in the month, Jagan had announced the state will clear 50% of all pending industrial incentives of Rs 904 crore to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in two installments to encourage them to reopen their business affected due to the lockdown, clamped to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The second tranche of Rs 454 crore will be cleared on June 29.

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"In addition to this, all the minimum power demand charges of MSMEs during the months of April, May, and June at an estimated amount of Rs 188 crore will be waived and Rs 200 crore are going to be provided as input capital to the firms at low-interest rates which would put the MSMEs back on rails," read a release from Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister's Office.

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In order to give preferential market access to MSMEs in government procurement, the chief minister announced that 360 identified items will be purchased from MSMEs and all those payments will be cleared in a period of 45 days. Of the total purchases, almost 25%of the purchases are to be done from micro and small enterprises, 4% from SC-ST community enterprise, and 3% from women entrepreneurs, he added.

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