The Mumbai-based DOT Institute of Graphic Communication (DIGC) on 29 May conducted a webinar on a very topical subject, ‘Recent RBI & FM Schemes.’ The webinar presenter was Uday Dhote, director of DIGC and past chairman – finance and taxation of the AIFMP.
The government recently introduced a slew of measures through various schemes, especially for MSME’s to bring the economy back on track and kick start the revival of industries affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Ever since the programs were announced by the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman as a part of the government’s stimulus packages, there have been many questions and confusion in its applicability. Regional managers of major banks have told several printers that the announced measures are unlikely to benefit them in any way.
Therefore, the DIGC decided to conduct the webinar so that printing businesses could benefit from the announced schemes of the central government, check here to find out the benefits of such schemes. The general impression is that the finance minister’s announcements are mainly government-backed ease of lending measures. Also, the DIGC wanted to help businesses in the print industry present themselves and their cases more effectively to the financial institutions when attempting to benefit from the announced schemes. A well prepared and unified front of print businesses would strengthen their claims to institutions and banks.
The webinar sought to provide a detailed explanation of the schemes and the guidelines. The eligibility of print businesses, methods of approaching the banks and other financial institutions for consideration under the schemes were detailed.
A welcome kit featured all the notifications and circulars of the government for the participant to take part more fully in the webinar—and templates of letters to the financial institutions. The webinar opened with the requirements to be considered after restarting operations and the challenges in liquidity generation. The participation included print business owners and several who are reasonably well-versed in finance. A very pertinent question or dilemma was that of saving lives versus livelihoods.
The main presentation by Uday Dhote took on the grave situation facing printers by suggesting approaches to business survival through three levels of progression – liquidity, profitability, growth. Taking up the imperatives facing the key stakeholders involved in reviving a business, Dhote also shed light on some technical banking concepts. Discussing the repo rate versus the lending rate and the relation between change in the RBI repo rate and its effect on the commercial lending rate. Other pertinent points, like the classification of MSME’s and others, were also clarified. He then elaborated on each notification, circular, and scheme with particular emphasis on how each type of benefit could be availed. The webinar culminated with answers to questions from the online participants.
