Interest-free loan to buy Amanah Saham 1 Malaysia shares (Updated)

KUALA LUMPUR: The government will provide intrest free loans to allow members of the Indian community to purchase 5,000 Amanah Saham 1 Malaysia shares, said MIC president Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam.
He said the government has allocated a special fund of RM500 million to enable 100,000 Indian B40 group (households in the bottom 40% income category) to purchase the shares.
He said about 400,000 people from these households will benefit from it.
"Even those who are unemployed will be able to purchase the shares and the dividends from the shares will be used to pay back the capital.
"Once they have paid back the loan, only then will they start enjoying the dividends," Subramaniam added.
He said the households that have been identified are those at the bottom of the B40 scale.
He said this will help at least 50% of registered poor households to increase their savings, and this is part of the Malaysian Indian Blueprint (MIB).
He said the share purchase is part of the 1.5 billion units allocated under Amanah Saham 1 Malaysia for the Indian community, adding that members of the community can subscribe up to 30,000 units.
The MIC president said the government had also provided RM50 million funding via Tekun for micro entrepreneurs.
Subramaniam said Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia with an annual allocation of RM20 million over the next five years will help develop and empower women entrepreneurs.
"The number of Indian entrepreneurs is low at 14.3% whilst Bumiputras are 22.4% and Chinese are 23.2%.
"The party with the help of Tekin and Sedic will help nurture and develop Indian entrepreneurs as well as help develop and identify markets for them," he said.
Subramaniam also thanked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak for promising to ensure the Indian intake into the civil service and public institutes of higher education is set at 7%.
He said MIC had been fighting for this for a long time.