Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) and private infrastructure development firm, IL&FS, have jointly taken the initiative to impart training to financial accountants engaged in the local leather industry.
The move is aimed at enabling entrepreneurs to make the most of various government sops and schemes by maintaining their financial records proficiently.
IL&FS regional manager Jayant Prakash told Business Standard that over 150 small and medium leather manufacturers of the city were facing imminent closure due to the mass cancellation of export orders from European countries. Moreover, poor maintenance of financial records has rendered them non-creditworthy.
“We will form a committee of experienced financial executives to impart assistance to these smaller entrepreneurs in maintaining their records, apart from disseminating information regarding the latest aid schemes being run by the government,” he said.
The chartered accountants will be provided short-term training in basic accounting, leather industry-specific accounting, financing-based accounting, drafting proposals for getting finance and business communication by the committee.
Abhishek Mishra, a practicing chartered accountant who looks after the financial records of Irfan Tannery in Jajmau area here, said the initiative would help record keepers show the real business volume to gain better rating and related subsidies.
According to Prakash, small manufacturers usually focus their attention on saving taxes, whereby they attempt to show minimum profit and business, which hampers the SME rating points.
“We will create awareness regarding the various government schemes and subsidies for the leather industry, apart from training them to obtain high SME ratings,” he added.
The training expense of around Rs 7,000 per head will be borne jointly by the bank and industrialists, who need to pay only15 per cent of the amount.
