Veteran politician and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar has appealed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bail out sugar industry hit due to COVID-19 pandemic.
In a letter to PM Modi, the NCP President said even before the lockdown the government took a series of initiatives like MSP, the export of sugar, buffer stock and interest subvention on Capex for ethanol production.
Pawar, a former Union Agriculture Minister, suggested increasing MSP on sugar ranging from Rs 3,450 to Rs 3,750 with grade-wise increment.
He also requested for a one-time provision of Rs 650 per tonne on average cane crushed during the last two years.
Pawar called for the conversion of outstanding working capital as short-term loans and rescheduling all term loans for 10 years with a moratorium of two years on the lines of Mitra committee recommendations.
The relief sought includes treating sugar mills’ distilleries as Strategic Business Units ( SBUs) and on a standalone basis, and banks financing the Ethanol projects sanctioned under the Interest Subvention Capex Scheme announced by the Central Government in 2018.
He said that there should be a provision of funds for clearing export incentives and buffer stock expenses pending since 2018-19 and 2019-20.
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