Appreciating the proposed credit guarantee fund, the chamber said it needs to be increased to Rs 1,000 crore in order to make it more meaningful for the sector.

"It is heartening to note that the government has raised the exemption limit for excise duty from Rs 50 lakh to Rs one crore," chamber President K S Mehta said and called for a 'comprehensive' policy within a short time frame.

On raising the composite loan limit from Rs 10 to Rs 25 lakh, he said "in spite of provisions that the term loans and working capital would be available from the same agency, the time involved in making the dibursement is very long."

The chamber also lauded the decision on capital subsidy of 12 per cent for investment in technology in select sectors.

"Small scale units in India are always ready to adopt the latest technology," Mr SL Kapur, one of the Phdcci member, said.

The decision to bring the service-oriented units into the ambit of the priority lending programme was also a welcome move, he added.