FM Sitharaman Asks States To Clear MSME Payments Delayed By State PSUs

New Delhi, Dec 20 (KNN) Calling out the State governments, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday that State PSUs owe a large amount to the MSMEs and they should quickly clear the bills.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha on questions on the GST dues owed to MSMEs, she said that the central government has been “fairly sensitive to the needs of MSMEs”.

“The central government enacted a provision in the budget to ensure that the credit and tax incentives to larger companies and PSUs would be held back until actual payment of dues to MSMEs has been accounted for in that fiscal,” she said.

“This understanding that PSU means central (PSU) may not always be correct. Yes, there are central PSUs which owe money to MSME and all of us ministers have been very keenly observing them so that the delay should not be beyond 45 days, and the central PSU largely now go by that understanding,” FM told the Parliament.

“But I don't have an authority to speak about state PSUs and it is not a secret that state PSUs owe a large amount to MSMEs, and the problem therefore remains for the MSMEs but it is outside of my realm. It is very much the realm of the states where the same concern for MSME should be understood by the state governments and they should quickly clear the bills,” she said.

The lower house of the Parliament also passed the Central Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2023, on Tuesday, following a discussion on the subject and in line with the recommendation of the 52nd GST Council held earlier in October.

The bill, which was introduced on December 13, sought to incorporate the legislative changes in Sections 109 and 110 of the CGST Act, 2017, for the council's recommendation to increase the age limit of the judicial authorities of the GST Appellate Tribunal.

(KNN Bureau)