The ministry of small-scale industries, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India, was considering reducing prime lending rate (PLR) for the small-scale industry, especially the unorganised sector.
The existing PLR of 12 per cent with plus/minus two per cent was still too high for those like cobblers and other artisans, and similarly 9 per cent interest on credit was too high for SSI, Union Minister for Small Scale Industries C P Thakur told a press conference in Jaipur on Tuesday.
Blaming the high cost of credit by the nationalised banks based on RBI guidelines, he said the interest rates for the SSIs should be as low as they could afford and return in easy installments.