Vendors to get interest for delayed payments on govt e-marketplace

Move taken to ensure timely payments particularly to MSMEs; buyer will have to pay interest at the rate of 1% a month

Sellers on the government e-marketplace will now get interest rate at the rate of one per cent a month in case payments due to them are delayed beyond ten days. The move has been is taken to ensure prompt payment to vendors on the e-market platform, particularly micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

“In order to promote greater discipline and timeliness in payment to vendors, especially MSMEs, the government has issued an order to levy interest on late payment to vendors on the government e-market place,” finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman tweeted.

It has been decided that whenever a consignee receipt and acceptance certificate is auto-generated or issued by a buyer and payment is not made withing ten days, they buyer will have to pay penal interest at the rate of one per cent per month on the delayed payment, she said.

The department of expenditure has issued an office memorandum in this respect.