Govt announces inclusion of retail and wholesale trades under MSMEs

Minister of MSME, Nitin Gadkari, announced on July 2, 2021 about revised guidelines for MSMEs which has included retail and wholesale trade under Micro, Small & Medium (MSME) Enterprises.

Key Facts

• Inclusion of retail & wholesale trades mean that retail & wholesale trade will be able to avail benefits like priority sector lending under RBI guidelines.
• As per MSME minister, revised guidelines will benefit 2.5 crore retail and wholesale traders. It will also allow them to register on Udyam portal.

Significance of the move

• This will enable traders to get access to capital that have been impacted greatly amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
• With this inclusion, several measures of MSME sector announced over past year will now be applicable to retail and wholesale traders.
• It will thus enable smaller retailers and traders to avail Resolution Framework for COVID-19-related stress. announced by Reserve Bank of India.
• It will immediately impact smaller retailers with businesses up to Rs 250 crore of turnover by enabling them to avail immediate-term finance through schemes announced under Atmanirbhar Bharat.
• As per CAIT, this decision will enable traders to avail requisite finances from banks and financial institutions under Priority Sector Lending as well.

What RBI had announced?

RBI had announced that, MSMEs with aggregate exposure of up to Rs 25 crore and classified as standard can avail this restructuring scheme without being downgraded to another category of asset by March 31, 2021.

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)

CII is a non-governmental trade association and advocacy group headquartered in New Delhi. It was founded in 1895. It engages business, academic, political, and other leaders of society in shaping regional, global, and industry agendas. CII is a membership-based organisation.

Month: Current Affairs - July, 2021