It’s time to focus on ease of doing ‘small’ business
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It’s time to focus on ease of doing ‘small’ businessBy Varad Pande & Joseph Sebastian, ET CONTRIBUTORS
Last Updated: Jul 10, 2021, 10:28 AM IST
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Synopsis
Systemic bottlenecks and red tape, lack of affordable credit, inefficient supply chains and weak access to markets have stymied the MSME sector for decades
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This is the moment when governments should enable end-to-end digital platforms to enable smoother compliance and access to government schemes
For over 110 million people in India involved in the MSME sector, the last 12 months have been a veritable nightmare. The pandemic-induced disruption in demand, credit availability and labour supply has been a pincer movement that has devastated the financial health of many MSMEs. Surveys estimate that 82% of MSMEs were negatively impacted by the first wave of the pandemic, and 25-40% of them could shut shop. The second wave will probably make these numbers worse.