MSMEs see record govt procurement: Govt data

New Delhi, April 12 (KNN) The central government purchases from micro and small enterprises (MSEs) have hit a record high in the financial year 2021-22, according to the official data. 

In FY19, the MSE procurement share was 26.32 per cent amounting to Rs 40,399 crore which jumped to 30.18 per cent in FY20 though the value declined marginally to Rs 39,665 crore. It further increased to 33.93 percent worth Rs 42,586 crore in FY22 after dipping to 27.95 per cent, though still above the 25 percent threshold, during FY21 amid Covid.

This comes in the backdrop of the gradual increase in the share of procurement made from MSEs by most of the government ministries and departments out of their overall annual public procurement in the past four years barring the Covid year. 

In fact, going by the data available on the public procurement policy monitoring portal, MSME Sambandh, the aggregate procurement by the central government from MSEs has been exceeding the 25 percent minimum annual threshold consecutively since FY19.

The background to this growth is the government had earlier mandated public buyers to procure at least 20 percent of their annual procurement of goods from MSEs. The limit was enhanced to 25 percent in 2018. 

However, during the FY15-FY17 period, the government buyers had failed miserably to hit the minimum procurement levels. The share of government procurement from MSEs stood at only 11.6 per cent in FY15, 4.5 per cent in FY16, and 10.3 per cent in FY17, according to the available data. (KNN Bureau)