Key Points :
- No data on the number of small and medium businesses that have closed due to COVID: Government to Parliament
- MSME Ministry has told Rajya sabha: “Don’t have data on the closure of MSMEs due to COVID-19”.
After claiming that the government has no data on the deaths of migrant laborers amid the nationwide lockdown as well as doctors who lost their lives due to Covid-19, the Centre on Saturday said that it has no record of MSMEs that have faced closure in the wake of the pandemic.
Interestingly, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Pratap Chandra Sarangi also said that there is no data on the number of MSMEs closed down from FY 2014-15 to FY 2019-20.
On a question on the number of small and medium businesses closed from March to August 2020 due to the economic distress, the Minister said: “No such record is available.”
He, however, enumerated the steps taken by the government to support the MSMEs to revive, including the Rs 20,000 crore subordinated debt for MSMEs, Rs 3 lakh crore collateral-free automatic loans for business, including MSMEs, and Rs 50,000 crore equity infusion through ‘MSME Fund of Funds’.
(With IANS inputs)
