Panaji, Jan 14 (KNN) Goa government has constituted a state-level standing committee on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) which will  recommend reforms for the sector apart from monitoring all initiatives.

The state-level standing committee will be chaired by Chief Secretary Parimal Rai with secretaries of finance, labour, factories and boilers, transport, law, revenue, agriculture and industries departments making up the members.

Goa MSMEs also said that issues concerning Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds, access to finance, and delayed release of payments by government bodies continue to trouble the sector, which contributes 28.8% to the national GDP.

Chairman of National Council of MSME, Assocham, Manguirish Pai Raikar, discussed some of these issues with the Centre and requested the Centre to resolve the problems faced by the sector.

He further said that lack of finance prevents MSMEs from expanding operations since banks hesitate to disburse loans to both existing and new MSMEs.

He also sopke about delayed payment for goods or services in MSMEs, adding that ‘‘the GST refunds have also been delayed for over six months and this leads to a liquidity crunch for MSMEs.”

Reportedly, the standing committee will try and address some of these issues by discussing it with the apex banking body Reserve Bank of India (RBI), whose deputy general manager will serve on the state-level standing committee.

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