New Delhi, July 25 (KNN) The small and micro units have been hit the hardest post-COVID, with their pending dues reaching Rs 8.73 lakh crore, amounting to 80 per cent of the total pending for the whole of the MSME sector until 2021.

According to the latest report by Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship, the delayed payments, as percentage of sales, has risen from 46.16 per cent in 2020 to 65.73 per cent in 2021 for the "micro" segment and from 28.85 per cent to 31.10 per cent for "small" units.

Although the rise in delayed payments as a percentage of sales has been much lower for "medium" segment units, up from 24.02 per cent in 2020 to 25.20 per cent in 2021.

Another report published by Crisil shows that more than a quarter of India's MSMEs lost market share of over 3 per cent due to the pandemic. Around half of them witnessed a shrinkage in their earning margins because of a steep rise in commodity prices in 2021 when compared to 2020.

"It is easy to ascertain the payment owed to the government sector but not to the private sector, and there are reasons." "One, we cannot ask the private sector to share a list and, second, the MSME units, too, would not want to complain about their clients to avoid hurting their working relationship," said a senior government official. 

The delay in payments, either by the customers in the private sector or by the government departments and public sector undertakings, acts as a hindrance to the revival of smaller units.  (KNN Bureau)