New Delhi, Jun 12 (KNN) Despite the government has come up with relief and liquidity measures to pull Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) out of the COVID-19 crisis and quench their liquidity thirst, a report by CEEW and NIPFP has suggested that a centralised digital platform should be created for MSMEs in order to identify them, provide incentives and support them as per the requirement.

The report on jobs, growth and sustainability, prepared by National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) and Council on Energy Environment and Water (CEEW) released on Thursday.

 ''We propose the creation of a nationwide, centralised digital platform, MISHRII: MSME Information System for Holistic and Real-time Identification, Incentives and Support,'' it said.

MISHRII would collect data on the size, distribution, and economic contribution of MSMEs and their workers to the national output, and seed details such as occupation, days of employment and monthly income into their Aadhaar-linked profiles.

It should be linked with the goods and services tax (GST), value added tax (VAT), income tax, and other tax databases, and the banking network for direct benefit transfer (DBT).

It also recommended that the development of a vulnerability assessment framework of MSME sectors; measures to improve the creditworthiness of small businesses, and increasing the capacities of one, the MSME SAMADHAAN Delayed Payment Monitoring System to expeditiously clear government dues to micro and small enterprises, and two, the National Company Law Tribunal to efficiently manage insolvency cases.

''We believe that India must take appropriate protection measures against predatory practices of some trading partners to undercut product prices and route low-cost exports through the ASEAN countries under the cover of free trade agreements (FTAs),'' said the report.

''Such safeguards will prevent a collapse of our domestic industries, especially strategic ones such as ferrous and non-ferrous metals, textiles, pharmaceuticals, solar cells and modules, and heavy machinery,'' the report added.

The report also suggested increasing the capacity of the SAMADHAAN system to expeditiously clear government dues.