New Delhi, May 19 (KNN) A poll by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has revealed that delayed payments worth Rs 1,819 crore of 240 Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are pending with Public Sector Units (PSUs).

According to the poll, public sector or government departments including state departments owe MSMEs RS 1,709 crores and the private sector also owes about Rs 110 crores to MSMEs.

''The sample CII poll revealed that ab out 32% of the outstanding to MSMEs have been delayed for more than 2 years and about Rs 895 crores are stuck in disputes. These need to be resolved soon to save the MSMEs from solvency,'' CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said.

Out of the total delayed payments amount, Manufacturing contracts account for Rs 153 crores, Services contracts account for Rs 723 crores and multiple sectors accounted for Rs 930 crores.

''Almost Rs 723 crores are delayed payments from services sector areas including EPC contracts (Rs 92 crores), Engineering contracts (35 crores), IT & ITES (47 crores) and other services (Rs 113 crores),'' CII

CII suggested measures to alleviate the issue of pen ding payments to MSMEs including tax refunds and incentives.

It said, the government should monitor payment delays by CPSUs to MSMEs closely through a portal for complaints and ensure necessary funds are provided and utilized for this purpose.

All PSUs and government departments both at the central and state government levels must be encouraged or mandated to register themselves on TREDS.

In addition to overcome the delays in payments to MSMEs due to disputes all pending GST refunds should be cleared immediately.

''All incentives due to MSMEs under various central and state schemes should be released immediately,'' it added.

Banks should provide additional reconstruction term loans to MSMEs impacted by the lockdown, with Government of India offering a guarantee upto 20 per cent of the default, CII said.