New Delhi, June 7 (KNN) The Finance Ministry has announced the extension of deadline for MSMEs to submit claims of forfeited bid security for government contracts during the Covid-19 period till July 31. 

Previously the deadline was set for June 30 and now with this step MSMEs will be allowed one more month.

It adds 30 more days for MSMEs to claim a refund for bid security and liquidated damages that were forfeited by government departments and public sector enterprises. 

To help MSMEs that suffered from severe liquidity challenges, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched the “Vivad se Vishwas-I” scheme during the Budget 2023-24. 

Under the scheme, the government had declared that it would refund 95 per cent of the forfeited amount related to bid security or performance security to MSMEs for their government contracts.

The scheme also provides some additional provisions to the MSMEs which got debarred due to their inability to execute government contracts during the Covid-19 period till March 31, 2022. 

The relief is applicable to all government contracts for procurement of goods and services, initiated by any ministry/department/attached or subordinate office/ autonomous body/Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE)/Public Sector Financial Institution etc., with MSMEs. (KNN Bureau)