Mintsifra proposed to ease the rules of concessional lending for IT companies

The Russian Ministry of Digital Development has prepared a draft proposal to simplify the rules for issuing loans on preferential terms for the implementation of digital transformation projects based on domestic IT solutions. About it reported in the explanatory note to the draft resolution of the Russian government, which is published on the federal portal of draft regulatory legal acts.

“The proposed changes will help support the financial and economic condition of market participants in the field of information technology, make the preferential lending program more accessible to IT organizations, and also ensure that the planned dynamics of the introduction of Russian software and the required level of import independence are maintained,” the explanatory note says (quote by Interfax).

According to the document, among the proposals is the abolition of the condition that an IT company must receive tax benefits and apply reduced insurance premiums. This initiative will be able to attract additional funding to the industry and provide soft loans to Russian developers for current activities and the implementation of new projects.

The Ministry of Digital Development also proposed to abolish the obligation to index the salaries of employees in accordance with the norms of labor legislation, lift the ban on placing one’s own money on deposits (at the same time, such a ban on credit funds issued on preferential terms still remains) and clarify restrictions on the use of preferential credit funds . At the same time, the condition to ensure that at least 85% of the average number of employees in relation to March 1, 2022 remains employed for the period of the contract remains in effect.

In 2022, the government will allocate 21.5 billion rubles. as a support for the information technology industry. Part of these funds will go to subsidize the interest rate on loans for companies operating in the field of digital technologies – it should not exceed 3%, which will provide incentives for the implementation of at least 75 digital transformation projects.

Loans for these projects are issued by authorized banks at a preferential rate of 1 to 5% per annum, and for accredited IT companies it does not exceed 3% per annum. By August 1, a portfolio of loan agreements was formed for a total amount of about 52.2 billion rubles, which will be used to support projects for the implementation of domestic IT solutions. Already, 97 projects have been supported, 23 credit institutions have been involved in the support mechanism, the Ministry of Digital Development notes.

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