AN UNKIND CUT

A LARGE NUMBER OF MSMES EXPECT TO RESIZE OPERATIONS IN THE COMING MONTHS

- NIRBHAY KUMAR

The 21-day lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic will be in force till April 14. But cash-starved micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) remain uncertain about their future and survival for months beyond this period. The 63 million MSMEs are the lifeline of India's economy as well as big employers, providing livelihood to 110 million people, around 40 per cent of the total workforce. They account for 48 per cent of exports and contribute 30 per cent to the nation's GDP.

Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have announced a host of measures to bring relief to MSMEs but that hasn't calmed their nerves yet.

The RBI has allowed banks and other financial institutions to provide a moratorium of three months to all term loan borrowers for all loans due for payment between March 1 and May 31. It also allowed banks to defer interest on working capital by three months, besides easing compliance in GST.

Earlier, in a major relief, RBI permitted one-time recast of loans by GST-registered MSMEs to prevent them from turning NPAs. All accounts in default but standard as on January 1, 2019, qualified for the relaxation. The scheme has now been extended to accounts that were standard but in default as on January 1, 2020. Last month, the central bank also announced that incremental loans to MSMEs, along with retail loans for auto and residential housing, will be exempted from the cash reserve ratio between January 31 and July 31, 2020. A whole lot of things have been announced and quite a number of things are going to be announced. The government is aware of the need, says A.K. Panda, Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small and medium Enterprises (MSMEs), indicating that more relief measures could be in the offing.