Karantaka Innerwear Association (KIA), which represents the MSME of innerwear industry of Karnataka, has penned a letter to the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam requesting to address their concerns regarding the problems faced by the industry amid COVID-19 lockdown.
The association listed a few problems currently faced by the industry which included working on thin margins, shortages of funds and losses, increase in bad debts, dead stocks, salaries to staff, electricity charges, rent, etc. Besides that, the association also mentioned that they are facing unnecessary notices issued by different departments such as sales tax, weight and measurement department, labour department, etc.
In the letter, the association requested to the minister to waive off bank interest, PF/ESI and electricity bill for at least six months, reduce rental by 50 per cent and provide some percentage of salaries reimbursement. The association also asked the minister to give them at least six months time to face all notices from different department and to provide help in recovering their dues from dealers by enforcing some law.