New Delhi, Nov 26 (KNN) The Union Government has taken several steps to ensure timely payments to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and to prevent their accounts from being treated as Non-Performing Assets (NPAs).

Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur informed Lok Sabha in a written reply to a question on Monday that under the provisions of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development (MSMED) Act, 2006, 60 Micro & Small Enterprises Facilitation Councils (MSEFCs) have been set up in the States/Union Territories for resolution of delayed payment cases by way of conciliation and/ or arbitration. 

The Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) has launched the SAMADHAAN portal on the 30.10.2017 to enable Micro & Small Enterprises (MSEs) across the country to directly register their cases online on the portal relating to delayed payments by Central Ministries / Departments/ Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs)/ State Governments etc.

The Government of India, vide Gazette notification S.O. 5621(E) dated 02.11.2018 instructed that all Companies with a turnover of more than Rs 500 crore and all CPSEs shall be required to get themselves onboard on the Trade Receivables Discounting System Platform (TReDS) in order to address cash flow problems of MSMEs.

Further, the Government vide Gazette Notification 5622(E) dated 02.11.2018, on delayed payments, instructed that all companies who got supplies of goods or services from MSEs and whose payment exceeds 45 days from the date of deemed acceptance of the goods or services as per the provision of the Act, shall submit half yearly return to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs stating the amount of payments due and the reason of the delay.

MSME-Development Institutes (under the Ministry of MSME) located in the States are helping Committees set up by Banks for restructuring debts of the MSMEs so that their loans are not treated as NPAs, especially when they face such problems related to delayed payments.

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