Special loan scheme for Indian cabbies

ABOUT 5,000 Indian taxi drivers, the largest-ever gathering held for them, were offered special financing scheme for purchasing and maintaining their taxis. The scheme were formulated by the Special Secretariat for Empowerment of Indian Entrepreneurs (SEED) and TEKUN Nasional at the Murugan Temple in Batu Caves yesterday.

Source from (The Malay Mail): http://www.mmail.com.my/story/special-loan-scheme-indian-cabbies-53900
Published: April 21, 2013

Deputy Federal Territories and Urban Well-being Minister Datuk M. Saravanan addressed the crowd at an event organised with 12 Indian Taxi drivers Associations, including the Cyberjaya Indian Taxi Drivers Association, the LCCT Indian Taxi Drivers Association and KL Makkal Communications Indian Taxi Drivers Association.

Also present were TEKUN Nasional managing director and CEO Datuk Abdul Rahim Hassan and SEED director Dr. A.T. Kumararajah.

Saravanan said the scheme applied to Indian taxi drivers with their own permits, drivers with rented vehicles and also for drivers using company permits who previously could not benefit from various schemes as they owned neither the car nor a permit.

“The first issue to overcome is taxi drivers’ need for their own permits, which requires structural changes. Following an announcement to award licenses to deserving individuals, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had distributed 1,000 permits to recipients on March 24 at Putrajaya, of which 26 per cent were Indians,” he said.

“From Malaysia’s 12,500 Indian taxi drivers, approximately 2,500 currently have their own permits, while the rest use company permits through hire-purchase schemes.”

The second issue is financing, as many drivers cannot afford to purchase new taxis or pay the required deposit, ranging overall from RM6,000 to RM15,000. They also face problems undergoing major overhaul repairs and converting from petrol to NGV engines, which cost between RM5,000 to RM8,000.

“There is also a need for drivers to comply with rulings specifying that their taxi cannot be over 10 years on the road, requiring another RM6,000 to RM15,000,” he said.

A successful pilot project for this scheme started in Feb 2013, for which four different schemes had been tailored and over RM1.25 million had been raised for it by 50 taxi drivers.

Approvals will be given through these four schemes, which are: Automatic approval for a new taxi purchase by drivers with permits (20 per cent of the taxi cost as down payment); automatic approval for replacement of taxis older than 10 years (20 per cent of the taxi cost for down payment); conversion from petrol/diesel to NGV engines (approval of up to RM8,000 each); and refurbishment and repair of existing taxis (approval of up to RM5,000 each).

SEED also awarded 76 successful applicants a total of RM827,500 during yesterday’s programme. A mock check for RM557,000 was presented for 48 of them, as the applications had been approved the day before.