Why MSMEs are so critical for India and who will stand for them - a snap-shot:

1) There are around 63.4 million MSMEs in India

2) provides employment to 120 million people (30% of India's labour force)

3) contributes to 45% of India's exports, and

@andymukherjee70

4) have almost 30% share in India's GDP.

But MSMEs still receive just 6.3% of bank credit (2017-18).

From any parameter of evaluation, as deem fit by anyone, IMO, they deserve better place under the sun.

But the woes do not stop here,

@dugalira @chokhani_manish @ananthng

5) According to a study by http://screener.in , avg debtor days for MSMEs was 220 days in FY18. The same was 240 during GFC.

Imagine, what would be the likely number in present lock-down.

@ayushmitt @latha_venkatesh @deepakshenoy @TVMohandasPai

And if one further sees the factors that contribute to such long working capital cycle (450 days), it is the delay in payment (41%) that adds to the misery of MSMEs. @EmergingRoy @sugataghoshET @goveeET

Unfortunately, even after 10-12 years, life has not changed for MSMEs despite TReDS platform introduced in 2015-16. Our policy makers failed to promote the platform. @monikahalan https://twitter.com/meandmarkets/status/1232507549984923648?s=19

It is such a powerful platform that it would not only help MSMEs getting their WC cycle reduced thru bill discounting but also bring transparency and credit discipline. Large corporates might find it difficult to arm twist MSMEs then. @menakadoshi https://twitter.com/meandmarkets/status/1250994445924909057?s=19

However, the set of problems does not end with just poor credit or long WC cycle. They face similar problem when it comes to FX conversion on their export/import. FX spread goes as high as 10 to 20p for simple conversion.

At the face of it, might look like a small probelm.

But if one does the back of envelope calculation, in aggregate, as a sector they possibly end up paying between 4k to 6k crs in spread itself and that too year after year. Not a small amount by any standard. https://twitter.com/meandmarkets/status/1119105416896503814?s=19

The problem is that business, as we knew it, cannot be recovered. It will need to be reinvented. @sanjeevsanyal @FinMinIndia @nitin_gadkari @RBI @SEBI_India @DasShaktikanta @PMOIndia @amitabhk87 @PiyushGoyal