Delayed payments to MSMEs: The total outstanding payments to micro and small enterprises (MSEs) post-Covid has crossed Rs 15,000 crore. As of July 17, 2023, the total outstanding dues stood at Rs 15,681 crore since April 2020, according to the data shared by Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, Minister of State in the MSME Ministry in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.
The total outstanding dues, which included the amount outstanding where applications converted into cases by MSE Facilitation Councils and the amount outstanding where applications are pending, included Rs Rs 4,092 outstanding during FY21 that increased to Rs 4,628 crore in FY22 and Rs 5,134 crore in FY23. Till July 17 in the current fiscal, the total outstanding dues stood at Rs 1,825 crore.
“The Ministry of MSME launched Samadhaan Portal for filing of grievances & monitoring of the outstanding dues to the MSEs from the buyers of goods and services on 30.10.2017. After the application is admitted by the Facilitation Councils, it becomes a case,” Verma said in his response.
The facilitation centres act as arbitrators, evaluating cases filed by MSEs against their buyers for issues related to delayed payments. So far, there are 152 MSEFCs across the country. States like Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, U.P. and West Bengal have more than one MSEFC. Recently, Haryana also approved the setting up of MSEFC in every district.
Verma said the MSME Ministry has requested states/UTs to set up more number of MSEFCs for quicker disposal of cases related to delayed payments.
The response by Verma noted that the government has further instructed the central public sector enterprises and all companies with a turnover of more than Rs 500 crores to join the Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS), to facilitate the discounting facility of bills receivable of MSMEs.
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The MoS also highlighted other initiatives being implemented by the government for credit relief to MSMEs such as the infusion of Rs 9,000 crore in the corpus of the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Micro and Small Enterprises, PM VIKAS for traditional craftsmen and Vivad se Vishwas, a Covid-relief initiative for MSMEs who failed to execute their contractual obligations during the pandemic.
