Govt working on schemes to reimburse pending payments with interest to MSMEs, says Gadkari

New Delhi, Apr 24 (KNN) The Union Minister of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Nitin Gadkari has said that Centre is working on a scheme to reimburse pending payments with interest to MSMEs.

''The default on pending payments is one of the big problems faced by MSMEs,'' said Gadkari in an interaction via video conferencing with the representatives of Bharat Chamber of Commerce (BCC) on Thursday.

''I have asked the MSME Ministry officials to work on formulating a scheme of Rs 1 to 2 lakh crore,'' he added.

The Minster further said that if there is a pending bill anywhere, we can reimburse that amount with the interest cost.

''We will find out some solution, some of the cost will be borne by the government, some of the cost will be borne by the industry, some of the cost will be borne by the supplier and we will take the guarantee for that and MSMEs will get their payment. We are working on it. So that can be a good relief to MSMEs," said the minister.

During the interaction, Gadkari said also said that the Centre is exploring the possibility of allowing industry to use the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) scheme funds for payment of wages.

A decision in this regard will be taken at the Prime Minister and Finance Ministry level,” Gadkari said