BHAKTAPUR: Minister for Industry Mahesh Basnet on Saturday said the government has waived loan up to Rs 50,000 for small scale industrialists affected by the massive April 25 earthquake.

Inaugurating the fourth convention of the Nepal Bottled-water Industries Association (NBWIA), Minister Basnet said the government's decision for waiver of loans was to provide relief to the entrepreneurs.

"The trend to import materials from abroad is the reason why the country's budget is going to foreign countries," Minister Basnet said, adding, "We need to run additional industries to become self-dependent."

He said the country was depending heavily on the remittance sent by three million Nepali migrant workers.