Out of 2.76 crore MSMEs registered on the Udyam portal since its launch on July 1, 2020, 49,342 have been shut so far, according to government data. However, MSMEs closed were 0.17 per cent of the Udyam registrations, MSME Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi informed Lok Sabha in a written reply to a question on Thursday.
The total job loss due to the closure of MSMEs was 3,17,641.
“MSMEs de-registered or showed closure on the portal due to a number of reasons such as change in the company owner, certificate not required anymore, duplicate registration, and such other reasons,” said Manjhi.
Importantly, the Udyam-registered MSMEs had recently crossed the 20-crore job milestone. The total jobs reported at the time of filing this report by 4.77 crore MSMEs were 20.61 crore.
Meanwhile, states with the maximum number of MSME closures were Maharashtra with 12,233 closed units followed by Tamil Nadu with 6,298 closures, Gujarat with 4,861 shutdowns, Rajasthan with 3,857 closures and more, according to the data shared by Manjhi.
Out of total closures, 13,290 units were shut in the financial year 2022-23 while FY22 saw the closure of 6,222 MSMEs and 175 units in FY21, FE Aspire had reported earlier.
With respect to loss of employment, even as the government doesn’t maintain data on the temporary or permanent loss of jobs in the MSME sector, 19,862 jobs were lost in FY21 and 42,662 in FY22.
In February this year, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) under the Finance Ministry in its monthly economic report noted the number of people employed by Udyam MSMEs jumped 5.3X since the launch of the Udyam portal.
The DEA noted that the revision in the definition of MSMEs offered ease in doing business and promoted investment and employment. Moreover, the launch of the ECLGS scheme eased the liquidity problems of MSMEs, leading to a reduction in their Non-Performing Assets (NPAs).