Parliamentary committee seeking public input on the availability of financing to the MSME sector

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has solicited recommendations from the public and other stakeholders on the matter as it investigates credit flow to the critical MSME sector, according to a report on Friday.

The House panel, chaired by BJP MP Jayant Sinha, has solicited input from all stakeholders in the sector on strengthening credit flows to the MSME sector,’ considering the broader ramifications of the matter on the country’s economy.

The recommendations and opinions offered by experts, the public, and other stakeholders would become part of the Committee’s records and would be treated as secret and subject to the Committee’s privilege.

MSMEs are regarded as the economy’s development engine, employing about 11 crore people across diverse industries.

Most MSMEs rely heavily on private credit to meet their working capital requirements. Due to their poor balance sheet, even those with access to institutional funding must pay hefty interest rates.

There are 633.88 lakh micro, small, and medium firms (MSMEs) in the nation, with micro-enterprises accounting for 630.52 lakhs (99.47%), small enterprises accounting for 3.31 lakhs (0.52%), and medium enterprises accounting for 0.05 lakhs (0.01 per cent).

MSME contributes around 30% of India’s GDP. MSMEs’ total export value in India exceeded 11 lakh crores in 2019-20, accounting for 49.75 percent of total export value.