Not enough medium-sized companies in India, 'an institutional, structural problem': Niti CEO

INDIA DOES NOT have enough medium-sized firms that can scale into large companies, NITI Aayog CEO BVR Subrahmanyam said Wednesday.

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At the launch of a new initiative for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), he said the segment is most affected by regulation, while technology upgradation and skilling remain key challenges. "Sometimes when I think of the Indian economy, I worry. We have a large number of large companies. The number of medium companies is smaller than the number of large companies. Then, where is the growth going to come from? It's an institutional, structural problem," Subrahmanyam said.India has approximately 6.18 crore MSMEs, comprising 6.09 crore micro, 7.44 lakh small, and 70,000 medium enterprises, as per the latest Udyam portal data. Udyam is the only government portal for MSME registration. In 2020, micro enterprises were defined as those with investments up to Rs 1 crore and annual turnover up to Rs 5 crore. The threshold for small enterprises was Rs 10 crore in investment and Rs 50 crore in turnover, while for medium enterprises, it was Rs 50 crore in investment and Rs 250 crore in turnover, respectively. The Union Budget 2025-26 revised these limits, increasing the in