Crisil SME Tracker: A raft of positives for MSMEs in Budget 2019

Steps announced in the latest Union Budget are a long-term good augury for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), though in the near term, the benefits are expected to be moderate. 

Among the announcements was a two per cent interest rate subvention on fresh loans for GST-registered MSMEs, which would benefit a fifth of all MSMEs in India. That said, the Rs 350 crore allocation for this would support only around 10 per cent of incremental MSME lending.

The move to allow participation of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) in the Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) is also welcome, given the