Only around 20,000 MSME delayed payment cases disposed of in five years; doubled in past 12 months

Credit and finance for MSMEs: The number of delayed payment cases of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) disposed of by the government’s Micro and Small Enterprise Facilitation Councils (MSEFCs) across the country stood at 20,840 involving Rs 3,841 crore so far since the launch of delayed payment monitoring portal Samadhaan by the government back in October 2017. The disposed of cases doubled from around 10,000 cases disposed of as of November 2021, showed official data from the portal. The total delayed payment cases under consideration by MSEFCs were 31,866 as of November 13, 2022, involving Rs 11,447 crore.

In five years, 1.26 lakh delayed payment applications or complaints have been filed by MSEs amounting to Rs 32,345 crore, of which 30,320 have been rejected and 12,112 mutually settled between MSEs and their customers including central and state public sector enterprises, ministries and others. 31,414 applications were yet to be viewed by facilitation councils. 

MSEFCs are set up by the state governments for settling disputes on delayed payments filed by MSEs. The applications received are examined by the respective MSEFC of the state/district and for relevant applications, the buyers are directed to pay the amount along with the interest for failing to pay the amount within 45 days of acceptance of goods bought from MSEs. The council must decide upon the application within 90 days from the “date of making such a reference as per provisions laid in the MSME Act,” according to the portal.

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So far, 1,194 applications have been disposed of out of 5,217 filed against central public sector enterprises while 565 applications have been disposed of out of 2,901 filed against state PSUs, data showed. 346 applications against central departments, 196 against central ministries, 155 against railway division, and 1,607 against other MSME units filed by micro and small enterprises have been disposed of by MSEFCs. 

During the first half of the current fiscal, 15,203 applications involving Rs 3,844 crore were filed, down by 10.6 per cent from 17,021 applications involving Rs 3,998 crore filed during H1 FY22 and 9.3 per cent from 16,778 applications amounting to Rs 6,045 crore during the similar period in FY21, FE Aspire had reported in October 2022. 

Also read: Nearly 9 crore people employed by this many MSMEs registered on Udyam portal: Govt data