NEW DELHI: Central government has issued pending income-tax refunds upto Rs 5 lakh & GST/Custom refunds with immediate effect. The government has announced immediate relief to taxpayers in context of COVID-19 situation in the country.

A few days ago, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has written to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to seek a relief package for traders, including waiver on loan interest for lockdown period.

It stressed the need for a strong stimulus package for small businesses in the country in view of the packages announced for other sectors of the economy.

Noting that EMIs have been deferred for three months on certain loans, the traders body said in its letter: “Also the bank interest on CC (cash credit) /OD (overdraft account)/TL (term loan) or any kind of loan should be waived for the effected period of lockdown.”

The waiver would allow all Indians to survive with the reduced payouts and for businesses to survive the zero-revenue period, it pointed out.

“Care must be taken that the interest recovery is not spread out to later months or period and, similarly, banks may restrict interest payments on deposits to match the loss of interest on bank assets.

In the letter, CAIT National secretary general Praveen Khandelwal also sought a cap on the residential and commercial rents for the lockdown period.

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