KUALA LUMPUR, May 24 — The government will increase grants for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from RM30,000 to RM100,000 per company from July 1.

Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Sri Mustapa Mohamed (picture) said today he hoped the RM70,000 increase would encourage SMEs to “become more viable, more competitive” and help businesses growth.

He added all SMEs can apply for this grant until they reach their maximum allocation of RM100,000 per company.

“The eligibility for grants has also been expanded to include service companies with an annual sales turnover of less than RM25 million and with fewer than 150 employees,” Mustapa said when launching the “Trade Financing for SME Exporters” seminar here.

“Previously, the turnover was less than RM5 million with less than 50 employees. This shows the scope and coverage has been expanded,” he added.

Mustapa also said grants have also been extended to co-operatives involved in the export of Malaysian products.

“Additionally, the eligible activities of the grant have been expanded to cover costs for a number of new purposes,” he said, adding grants could now be used for overseas supermarket or hypermarket listing fee, overseas international certification and initial set-up cost of representative office overseas for service providers.