Minister KT Rama Rao's letter to Sh. Ravi Shankar Prasad seeking support for IT Sector

Minister KT Rama Rao has recently written a letter to Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad regarding support and benefits to MSME and SEZ units to tide over coronavirus crisis. He put forth some requests to provide relief to the SMEs in the IT sector in coordination with the Ministry of Finance. "The IT Industry in Hyderabad employs over 6 lakh people and as a result of COVID-19, there seems to marginal or no impact on the larger companies. However, the SMEs in the IT sector have been hard hit and there have been some layoffs. To help them recover quickly and continue through this distress and severe cash flow issues" - he stated in the letter to Prasad, who is Law & Justice, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology Minister.

“Expedite IT and GST (CGST and SGST) refunds. For any Income Tax dues at or below Rs 25 lakhs to MSMEs for the year 2018 -19, release the whole amount immediately. For any Income Tax dues above Rs 25 lakhs, on a slab basis, release 50% of the accumulated TDS credits as per 26AS. Rao demanded immediate reimbursement of GST dues & if not refunded at least add the amounts to the credit ledger, that can be adjusted against any of the Heads (IGST/CGST/SGST). In the initial days due to confusion a lot of companies paid several crores of rupees under various heads a later they got clarity on ways of payment & adjustments. Recently Finance Minister said any such dues will be cleared in 30 days but this needs to be expedited. If they are not cleared, they should be made available at least as credits to be used for future GST payments,” read the letter.

He suggested the Central Government to create help desk at MIETY for coordinating/liaison with IT, and GST offices for facilitating expediting the IT and GST refunds seamlessly. Rao requested for at least 50 per cent enhancement on the line of credit for the SMEs and 90 to 120 day interest waiver on the enhanced credit. On safer workplaces, the minister said that the Central Government should also stipulate a ‘Standard Health Code’ to be followed at all IT Parks – STPI and SEZ that includes employee hygiene, social distancing at the workplace including common areas and possible contact points. The IT Park Health Code should be similar to the FIRE norms and strictly enforced, the letter said.

Source: Aninews

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