Telangana to revive sick industrial units, sets up fund: Min

Telangana government plans to revive sick industrial units, particularly in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) space, and set up a fund to spearhead the move, state Minister for Industries and Commerce K T Rama Rao said today.

The state government is in advance stage of discussions with Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Centre and banks on their revival, he said.

"We are setting up what's called 'industrial health clinics'. This will most possibly be launched later this year, possibly in November," the Minister said at a CII-organised 'MAN'EXE-2016' on the theme 'Make in Telangana: Sustainable Growth through Innovation and Future Technologies' here.
 

Industrial units facing incipient sickness have to be helped by the government, said Rama Rao, who also holds the portfolios of Municipal Administration and Urban Development and IT.

"Techno-economic viability study that has to be done by banks is not being done. Unfortunately, banks are resorting to invoke Sarfaesi Act in too much haste without really following RBI guidelines to a large extent," he alleged.

Further, he said that a meeting of the State Level Bankers' Committee would be convened where banks would be sensitised on the need to support incipient sick companies and rehabilitate them.

The Minister said the state government has asked RBI to ensure that "when we start setting up a fund to revive and rehabilitate sick industries, this be considered as part of their priority (sector) lending by banks."

He also informed that the state government would come out with a good exit policy, which is likely to include setting up a tribunal at state level, for industries to ensure that disputes arising out of business conflict are addressed in a fast-track manner.

"A dispute redressal mechanism is currently being worked out by government of Telangana," he said.

Rama Rao also said that the Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation today has nearly 250,000 acres of ready-to-dispose of land bank for industries.

Since launch of the industrial policy (IT-iPASS) 12 months ago, the government has given clearances to more than 2,300 units and over 50 per cent of them are already at commercial production stage, he added.