Coimbatore : Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA) on Friday requested the prime minister, Narendra Modi to advice Reserve Bank of India to extend the moratorium for another six months from September to March 31, for repaying loans and interest on loans.

In a representation to Modi, TEA President, Raja M Shanmugham said the financial situation of Tirupur knitwear garment units has not improved. Hence they are not in a position to repay loans or the interest on loans.

The first quarter of the current financial year 2020-21, the All India Knitwear Exports clocked Rs. 5,355 Crores against Rs.13,570
crores recorded in the corresponding period of last year with a negative growth of 60.54 p;er cent which reflects the current status of knitwear garment exporting units, he pointed out.

The extension of moratorium will not only be beneficial to the Industry and Banks, but also to the well being of our country’s economy and help attain the ‘feel good factor’ across the board, he said.

As many of the MSME units’ with credit exposure of over Rs. 25 Crore are deprived of receiving the Emergency Credit Line Fund now, the real intension of the Government to extend crucial support to all MSMEs as a bailout from the impact of COVID-19 Pandemic would not be served,he opined.

Therefore, RBI should relax the conditions and permit even those MSMEs which are having Credit exposure of more than Rs. 25 Crore also to get 20 per cent of outstanding credit by keeping a maximum limit of Rs. 25 Crores, he said..

TEA has sent a copy of the representation to finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Corporate Affairs, Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, and RBI Governor. Shaktikanta Das and also Tamil Nadu chief minister K. Palaniswami to use his good offices and help in getting the moratorium extended, he said.