(This story originally appeared in 
on May 08, 2021)
PANAJI: The initiatives taken by the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to support and promote the MSME sector are a step in the right direction. However, the government must also ensure that bureaucratic hurdles are removed," chairman of the National Council for MSME of Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), Manguirish Pai Raiker, said. on May 08, 2021)Reacting to the slew of measures announced by RBI governor Shaktikanta Das, Raiker said the Centre must complement the RBI's efforts by stepping in and tweaking compliance and bureaucratic norms to make government procedures hassle-free.
"Very good incentive for banks to promote lending to the MSME sector," said Raiker while reacting to the decisions taken by RBI. "Now the government should step in to stem the rot caused by the second wave of this pandemic. It is time for the government to stand by entrepreneurs, support, supplement and promote them instead of creating bureaucratic hurdles."
Raiker said many entrepreneurs who used to run small and micro enterprises have lost their lives, leaving the future of these units in jeopardy. "The takeover should be smooth, banks and government procedures should be tweaked accordingly and quickly," he said.
Das announced several policy steps to offset the economic impact of the second Covid-19 wave on MSMEs and small businesses. Das said small businesses and MSMEs having aggregate exposure of up to Rs 25 crore, and who have not availed restructuring under any of the earlier restructuring frameworks (including under the Resolution Framework 1.0 dated August 6, 2020), and who were classified as 'standard' as on March 31, 2021, will be eligible to be considered under Resolution Framework 2.0.
"Our demand is for continuation of the restructuring process which ended on March 31 and also that SME I units be included to benefit from it," Raiker said.
