Economic Survey 2020: Loans worth over Rs 37,000 crore disbursed to MSMEs

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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on January 31 tabled the Economic Survey 2019-20 in Parliament.

The Survey gives detailed analysis of all the measures undertaken to support the MSME sector in India.

Loans in 59 minutes

According to the Economic Survey, 1,59,422 loans involving Rs 49,330 crore have been sanctioned under the 'PSB Loans in 59 in Minutes' scheme. Out of this, Rs 37,106 crore has been disbursed till October 2019.

To catch all updates from Economic Survey 2020, click here

The government launched 'PSB Loans in 59 Minutes' scheme to provide hassle-free financial assistance to MSME borrowers. The scheme facilitates in-principle approval for loans up to Rs 1 crore within 59 minutes through on-line portal.

Interest Subvention Scheme

The Survey states that Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has received and settled claim of Rs.18 crore from 43 banks and NBFCs from November 2018 to March 2019. The scheme provides interest subvention of 2 per cent for all GST registered MSMEs on incremental credit upto Rs.1 crore.

In December 2019, the government extended the last date for claims to December 31. Further, Udyog Aadhaar Number (UAN) was removed as mandatory document for settlement of claims.

Registration of MSMEs on TReDS portal

The Survey states that 329 companies have registered on the TReDS portal. However, there are over 1500 non-compliant companies which are not yet registered on the platform.

The TReDs platform was set up in 2017. All companies with a turnover more than Rs.500 crore need to be mandatorily on TReDS platform to enable entrepreneurs to access credit from banks.

GeM portal

The Survey states that 57,351 MSME sellers and service providers are registered on GeM portal. Further, 50.30 percent of orders value on GeM portal is from MSEs.

The Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is a government-run e-commerce portal to facilitate and enable online procurement of  goods and services  needed by various government departments, organisations and PSUs.

Compulsory procurement by Central PSUs

Central PSUs are required to compulsorily procure at least 25 per cent of their total purchases from MSMEs. The PSUs have procured 28.26 percent of total procurement from MSMEs, crossing the minimum threshold of 25 percent.

The PSUs procured goods and services worth Rs. 15,936.39 crore from 59,903 MSMEs. However, PSUs could not procure the mandated 3 percent from women entrepreneurs. Only 0.43 percent of the total procurement was made from MSMEs run by women.

Technology Centres for MSMEs

Out of the 20 Technology Centres (TCs) and 100 Extension Centres (ECs) to be established at the cost of Rs.6,000 crore, around Rs. 99 crores has been released for  setting up of these centres.

Till date, six locations have been identified for the TCs, Request for Proposal has been issued for 20 TCs and DPRs of 20 ECs have been approved. 10 more ECs have been planned for 2019-20.

Pharma Clusters

To promote setting up of MSME clusters, Solan, Indore, Aurangabad and Pune have been selected for pharma clusters and developing of common facilities. The government will bear 70 percent of the cost for establishing pharma clusters.

Ease of Doing Business

To ease regulatory compliance for MSMEs, government is carrying out awareness programmes for employers to encourage them to file Unified Annual Return online on Shram Suvidha Portal under 8 Labour Laws and 10 Central Rules.