New Delhi: AICC President Sonia Gandhi asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce Rs. One lakh crores wage protection package and Rs. One lakh crores credit guarantee fund to MSMEs.

She wrote a letter to Modi on Saturday, warned that if economic concerns like the paralysis in the sector that employees 11 crore people were ignored, it will an intense ripple effect which would cripple the National economy. She said the Credit Guarantee Fund will ensure immediate liquidity for MSME units which would need capital the most after lock down.

MSMEs contribute close to 1/3^rd of the Nation’s GDP and account for almost 50% of our exports. They employ of over 11 crore people. At this moment without appropriate support more than 6.3 crore MSMEs stand on the verge of economic ruin, she said in her letter to Modi. That every day of the lock down cost Rs. 30, 000 crores to these units which have come to complete halt, she added. The 11 crore employees in MSMEs are at the risk of losing their jobs, she wrote.

Her letter of suggestions resulted from deliberations by an AICC consultative group comprising senior party leaders including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. She also sought an expansion of RBI’s moratorium on payment of loans to MSMEs beyond the present three months period as also an interest subvention for them.