Disclose details of all payments, dues to MSMEs: Govt tells cos

New Delhi, July 18, 2024

Seeking to ensure a timely payments for micro, small and medium enterprises, the ministry of corporate affairs has asked all companies to disclose information on payments made or overdue to such small businesses on a half-yearly basis.

The move comes amid demands for a review of income tax provisions that allowed only the amount that has been cleared to be used as a deduction for expenditure by companies.

The provision has split small businesses, some of whom have complained of being forced to deregister as an MSME.

Ahead of the Budget, MCA has issued a new form that requires payments to all MSMEs as well as outstandings for 45 days or less or dues pending for over 45 days to be disclosed along with the reason for delay. For long, overdues have been a major concern for small businesses as they typically depend on internal generation to meet their funding requirement with only a small portion relying on bank credit. In fact, access to bank credit has been a major area of concern, which the govt is seeking to address.

A paper by ICRIER economists Radhicka Kapoor and Tanu Goyal has suggested that the use of digital public infrastructure has helped address a part of the problem, but the gap still remains. “The first phase of the Account Aggregator (scheme) rollout (April 2022 – Jan 2023) in India has resulted in early positive benefits to the MSME sector. Of the total loans disbursed during the period, about 38% of the unsecured business loans were disbursed to MSMEs. The AA network has lowered cost of doing business, reduced paperwork, and enabled a turnaround with loans available in 3-5 clicks in a digital process,” they said in a paper.

Industry bodies have suggested several steps in the Budget to address the concerns of MSMEs. “There is a pressing need to establish a dedicated working group tasked with identifying underperforming schemes related to MSMEs,” said Assocham president Sanjay Nayar.

[The Times of India]