NEW DELHI: While the Rs 3 lakh crore collateral-free credit line for the MSMEs was a headline-grabbing announcement by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday, a day later her colleague Nitin Gadkari put it in perspective as he quantified the stress the sector is currently undergoing — a whopping Rs 5 lakh crore in unpaid dues.
Those sitting on the dues pile include Central and state governments as also state-run firms and large corporations. Also, Gadkari’s was a ballpark estimate; there are no firm figures yet. For its part, the Centre pegged its dues to the MSMEs at under Rs 10,000 crore.
Responding to questions on this at a press conference here on Friday, Sitharaman was quick to point out that Gadkari had referred to dues from large corporates, too, and not just states and the Central government. Her expenditure secretary TV Somnathan added that dues from Central ministries, including defence, railways and central PSUs for the MSMEs was less than Rs 10,000 crore.
Gadkari had on Thursday disputed official estimates of dues on the MSME Samadhan portal and told a news channel, “the exact data (on dues to MSMEs) is not available. It (the data) is coming from state governments and major industries and other agencies… It will be more than Rs 5 lakh crore.”
The official estimate of unpaid dues to the MSMEs on the portal were around Rs 10,906 crore, with Central government and the PSUs run by it owing Rs 2,329 crore, states and their PSUs owing Rs 2,542 crore and private businesses and individuals owing Rs 6,035 crore.
The minister has for some time been trying to pursue the case of unpaid bills of small businesses. He had last month proposed a Rs 1 lakh crore revolving fund, which could be used to guarantee payment of outstanding dues of Central and state governments and PSUs besides major corporations.
Push for early tax refund
Officials said Gadkari is lobbying North Block to fast-track tax refunds to MSMEs within eight days to put the sector back on its feet