The Budget has kept the focus squarely on micro, small and medium enterprises through the announcement of a dedicated payments platform for small businesses and major upgradation of schemes for the sector.
Recognising that government payments to suppliers and contractors are a major source of cash flow to MSMEs, measures have been announced to eliminate delays in payment. A payments platform will be created for MSMEs to enable the e-filing and payment of bills.
Under the Interest Subvention Scheme for MSMEs, the Budget allocated Rs 350 crore for FY20 for a 2 per cent interest subvention to all GST-registered MSMEs on fresh or incremental loans. Earlier, a scheme for disbursal of loans of up to Rs 1 crore within 59 minutes was launched for the sector through a dedicated online portal.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also clarified that customs policy will continue to promote and protect the sector. However, the sanctioned outlay for the MSME ministry saw only a marginal increase — to Rs 7,011 crore in 2019-20 from Rs 6,984.27 crore in the previous year.
Yesterday, MSME minister Nitin Gadkari had announced the government’s plans to create an e-commerce platform on the lines of Amazon and Alibaba to sell products from MSMEs as also the Khadi and Village Industries Commission.
 "mSE, MSME, employees")