FM Nirmala Sitharaman: Measures being taken to clear dues of MSMEs

FM Nirmala Sitharaman said that only the litigated dues are not being cleared, rest all accumulated dues and which are getting added in present will be handled.

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Sitharaman further said that updates of pending payments are being regularly taken since last October from departments and related PSUs and steps are being taken to clear the dues.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Friday stated that steps are being taken to clear dues of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). She said that only the litigated dues are not being cleared, rest all accumulated dues and which are getting added in present will be handled.

Sitharaman further said that updates of pending payments are being regularly taken since last October from departments and related PSUs and steps are being taken to clear the dues. “Only the litigated dues are not being cleared, rest our effort is to clear all other dues…the process is continuing, it’s accumulated (dues) and the dues which are of present, have to handle both,” she said.

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Centre’s share in the total pending dues for MSMEs is Rs 10,000 crore, Expenditure Secretary TV Somanathan said. The dues from the 26 top central public sector enterprises to MSMEs is Rs 773 crore, and adding the dues of defence establishments, railways, departmental undertakings, the outstanding payments from the central government and from central public sector undertakings are less than Rs 10,000 crore. He added that the figure of Rs 5 lakh crore is an aggregation and includes dues from Centre, states and corporates.

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As per the MSME Samadhaan website, the online delayed payment monitoring system for settlement of disputes on filing of applications by the affected supplier MSME units, the ‘amount involved in applications’ is Rs 10,916.84 crore as on May 15. This, however, does not reflect actual government dues owing to a reluctance among MSME unit owners to file applications and wrangle with the government over pending payments as this may have a negative impact on fresh order flows.

On Friday, The Indian Express had reported that the total outstanding payments to units in the MSME sector, as on March 31, 2020, was pegged at upwards of Rs 4.95 lakh crore, according to government estimates accessed by this newspaper.

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Sitharaman had Wednesday said that the Centre and central PSUs would clear pending MSME dues in 45 days. Minister for MSMEs and Road and Highways Nitin Gadkari has appealed to all stakeholders including the private sector to fast track the outstanding payments to MSMEs at the earliest.