Liquidity is a major concern for MSMEs; GST refunds of Rs 20,000 crore pending: FIEO

New Delhi, May 30 (KNN) Refund of over Rs 20,000 crore is pending on account of GST due to which MSME exporters are facing liquidity crisis, said Ganesh Gupta, Federation of Indian Export Organization (FIEO) president.

He said “Liquidity is a major area of concern particularly for MSME exporters who constitute the bulk of exports in high employment intensive sector.”

While claims over Rs 7,000 crore were cleared by the finance ministry in March 2018, the amount in April, 2018 is little over Rs 1000 crore, he added.

Further he added that many exporters have not been able to file the refund of ITC due to technical glitches as input tax credit and exports happened in different months.

Despite increasing protectionism, Indian merchandise exports could jump 16% to touch a record $ 350 billion in the current fiscal, Gupta said.

Raising the concerns he said, the provision that 90% of the ITC refund will be issued within seven days is not being implemented by tax authorities. Some of the states say that they do not have funds to clear the refund.

Gupta also said although overall merchandise exports grew 9.8% in FY18, the export performance of labor-intensive sectors such as carpet, textiles and garments and handicrafts wasn’t up to the mark.