THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Financial Corporation (KFC) launched Kerala MSME Bill Discounting Platform aiming to ensure liquidity to MSMEs by discounting their outstanding bills. Finance Minister K N Balagopal inaugurated the platform, which was announced in the budget, in a function held at Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.
Transport Minister Antony Raju presided over the function. KFC partnered with Receivables Exchange of India Limited (RXIL), an RBI-approved company to start the platform. RXIL is a venture of Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) & National Stock Exchange of India (NSE).
Under the scheme, the bills accepted by departments, PSUs or corporations can be discounted and KFC would pay the eligible amount to the supplier within 48 hours. The departments will get 180 days to repay the money to KFC. The liquidity position of the department and PSU are expected to improve as the repayment liability is eased.
The department and PSU will be able to do purchases or execute works at a competitive price as the supplier or contractor can be assured of immediate payments, said a statement. More established suppliers would participate in the tendering process as they are assured of payments on time, the statement said.
Sanjay Kaul, CMD KFC, Kailashkumar Varodia, COO and CFO, RXIL, V K Prasanth, MLA, D Suresh Kumar, district panchayat president, attended. Twelve entrepreneurs received best entrepreneur awards on the occasion.