Parul
As per news reports, the government has decided to provide relief to IT/ITeS MSMEs and startups based in Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) amid Coronavirus crisis and lockdown.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has announced that it will waive off payment of rentals for small IT units housed in STPI premises for a four-month period as of now between March 1, 2020, and June 30, 2020. SPTI, operating under Meity has 60 centres in India.
the ministry quoted, “this move will provide relief to “nearly 200 IT/ ITeS MSMEs, operating from these 60 STPI centers,” the ministry said in a statement. The total cost involved in waiving of these rentals by the government is likely to be around Rs 5 crore. The move is “also in the larger interest of around 3,000 IT/ ITeS employees who are directly supported by these units.”
MSMEs and small business across sectors in India have been impacted due to the Coronavirus crisis as the government enforced lockdown last month. Factories and other establishments have been shut down during the period.
However, Union MSME Minister, Nitin Gadkari has urged small businesses to take consider the current crisis as an opportunity instead of a challenge. In fact, Gadkari had last month raised concern over the government bodies delaying MSMEs payments for goods bought by as much as three-four months.
