Plea in SC seeks relief measures for MSME for second Covid-19 wave

The advocate asked the court to ensure that banks desisted from imposing the NPA norms for MSME units

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court for a direction to the RBI to issue instructions and guidelines to initiate incentive packages and interim relief for the commercial borrowers attached with small scale business in the wake of the second wave of Covid-19.

The petitioner, Amaltas Apparel and Accessories Pvt Ltd, an MSME-registered company from Mumbai through advocate Vishal Tiwari, asked the court to ensure that banks desisted from imposing the Non-Performing Assets (NPA) norms for MSME units for a period of two years.

"The emergence of the Covid -19 and the subsequent lockdown has impacted the world economically. The MSME Sector in India has faced a huge economic hardship wherein it has become a daily struggle for sustenance," the plea said.

The RBI circular extending the moratorium till August 31, 2020, came as oxygen to such entities as it would have become a huge financial burden for the borrowers to pay the EMIs regularly in this period, the petitioner said.

However, the emergence of the second wave of the Covid-19 has again pushed the country back to the similar situation of the first wave, requiring urgent measures to enforce the fundamental rights, particularly the right to livelihood and right to dignity, enshrined under Article 21 of the Constitution to get the loan restructuring facility as the compulsory legal right, it said.