Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured a three-member industry delegation from the region that the Government will work very closely with them to ensure that all the problems were resolved at the earliest, especially those of the MSMEs.

Presidents of three organisations, Vanitha Mohan, local chapter of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, V Sundaram, Coimbatore District Small Industries Association, and K K Rajan, Southern India Engineering and Manufacturers Association, were in Delhi and presented memorandums to various Central Government functionaries in the wake of demonetisation and the problems being faced by industries.

Copies of the memorandums were handed over for the perusal of the Union Minister for Urban Development, M Venkaiah Naidu, who brought them to the attention of the PM yesterday, Vanitha said, adding, “We were called over phone on December 8th and informed that they will work very closely with us to ensure that all the problems are resolved at the earliest (especially those of the MSMEs).”

“He (Modi) has also invited the members of the delegation to call his office any time if the public faces any problem from any front while complying with the norms of the Government. This was an assurance given by the Hon’ble Prime Minister himself through Shri Venkaiah Naidu,” Vanitha said.

The delegation had conveyed the representations made by more than 50 industrial and trade associations, most of them being SMEs, to the Union Minister for MSME, Kalraj Mishra, Minister of State for MSME, Giriraj Singh, and MSME secretary, K K Jalan.

The delegation also met Union Minister of State for Finance, Arjun Ram Meghawal, Union Minister for Labour and Employment, Bandaru Dattatreya, and Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Officer, Tarun Bajaj, she said.

While the MSME ministry assured that it would take remedial measures at the earliest to tackle the problems, particularly opening accounts for workers, Meghawal has promised to take immediate steps to ensure availability of cash with banks, especially small denomination currency.

He has also promised to talk to the Regional Director of RBI to ensure adequate funds are available in Coimbatore to meet the requirements of industry and to assess the amount of new currency which has been deployed in industry, and ensure equitable distribution to all parts of the country. He would look into areas like that of visa where cash remittances were unavoidable, Vanitha said.

Dattatreya has promised to work closely with the Associations to iron out any kind of problems faced regarding the statutory obligations aspect and gave a blanket sanction to call him anytime the members faced issues on account of PF and ESI.