Ministry readies B100m for SME and startup lending

The Industrial Promotion Department will launch a new-year package with a budget of 100 million baht to support financial tools for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups.

Deputy director-general Jaruphun Jarayophat said the package will be administered by the Industry Transformation Centre (ITC) in upcountry provinces.

The ITC was established for SMEs and startups to improve and develop their business efficiency and implementation of technology.

The Industry Ministry will expand the 13 centres to cover 77 provinces by 2018, as well as set up 64 mini centres as part of the ITC network.

Mr Jaruphun said Industry Minister Uttama Savanayana will approve the financial measures soon.

“The department expects to implement them in December,” he said.

The new-year financial package is tentatively set to provide SMEs and startups with loans of 50,000 baht to 1 million baht with an interest rate of 4% per month.

The package will be offered to freelancers and workers in the design and development fields.

“It is the first time to scale down the financial package for startups and freelancers, as earlier the ministry provided these measures to corporate and community enterprises,” Mr Jaruphun said.

Deputy Industry Minister Somchai Harnhirun said the ministry has ordered all agencies to prepare measures for SMEs and startups ahead of the new year to boost the economy.

“The ministry will announce the full packages soon after approval,” he said.

Each package from the Industry Ministry is aimed at helping local SMEs and startups and encouraging them to access innovation and technology for future competitiveness.

Separately, the ministry launched the Agro-Industry 4.0 scheme to support business know-how and increase productivity for 2,000 companies in the food sector.

The scheme aims to increase sales revenue for the 2,000 companies by more than 1 billion baht, reduce operating costs by 700 million baht and cut wasted energy by 200 million baht.

The project’s goal is to create economic value of more than 1.9 billion baht.

The ministry will expand the scheme to cover related SMEs and farmers nationwide in 2019.