A one-day awareness session on “Punjab Rozgar Scheme” was arranged by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) to help people become familiar with the credit opportunities available under the program.

The session was organized in collaboration with the Punjab Small Industries Corporation, according to a press release received by WealthPK.

PD Punjab Rozgar Scheme, Shahzeb Hassan Kirmani said that the aim of the program is to open credit lines to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) on favourable terms so that they can have easy access to finance for investments. The total budget of the program is PKR30 billion. Start-ups and existing businesses can utilize this program through commercial banks.

He said the government of Punjab will be covering the costs of commercial loans for MSMEs by providing mark-up support and risk coverage. Losses suffered by the businesses amid COVID-19 will also be offset.

The scheme has been specially designed to help create employment and business opportunities for youth. University graduates with entrepreneurial ideas and diploma-certificate holders of technical-vocational training institutes will be eligible for the scheme. The results of the scheme will increase economic activity in the country, he added.

LCCI President Kashif Anwar appreciated the initiative. “The scheme will help businesses recover from COVID-19 losses in addition to supporting start-ups from the youth. Bank of Punjab is doing an excellent

job by partnering up with the Punjab Small Industries Corporation to make this initiative successful,” he said.

He informed the audience that there are two categories of loans under the scheme. Clean Loan Category for loans ranging between PKR100,000 to PKR1 million and Secured Loan Category for loans ranging between PKR1 million to PKR10 million. The Secured Loan Category comes with a low borrowing cost of 4-5%.

He added that this is a tremendous opportunity for entrepreneurs to expand their businesses with help from the government. The equity ratio for women, transgenders and people with disabilities is 90:10 as compared to 80:20 for men, which is going to help the marginalised communities of the country.

The president said better access to finance will greatly assist the MSMEs in getting their hands on new technology and enhance their export competitiveness with the help of loans taken under Punjab Rozgar Scheme.

LCCI Senior Vice President Chaudhry Zafar Iqbal and Vice President Adnan Khalid Butt expressed hope that the process of getting the loans under the scheme will be easy and swift. They also highlighted the need for the dissemination of information regarding the program so that people are able to make use of this opportunity.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk