K'taka clears one-time settlement for sick units

The Karnataka cabinet has approved a one-time settlement (OTS) scheme for the small-scale industrial units to repay their debt borrowed from the Karnataka State Finance Corporation.

The scheme will benefit 847 industrial units, which have borrowed from the KSFC as per the 1982 industrial policy.S Suresh Kumar, minister for law & parliamentary affairs, BWSSB and urban development said the SSI units, who have borrowed a total of Rs 23 crore loan up to December 31, 2009 would be eligible to avail the OTS scheme.

The total interest and compounded interest on these loans amounts to Rs 82.87 crore. Under the OTS scheme, the government would waive interest to those units who will repay their principal amount before December 31, 2011.

For those units, who will repay between January 1, 2012 and March 31, 2012, the government would waive 75 per cent of their accumulated interest.

Under the scheme, proposed by the department of commerce and industries, the government would extend the repayment period by another nine months during the next financial year, provided the sick units are in the revival mode and also waive interest for such units, he said.