An official statement last week mentioned about two recent studies conducted by NSIC and KVIC on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic upon their scheme beneficiaries. The NSIC survey evaluates the challenges faced by its beneficiaries amid the pandemic, while the KVIC study is about the impact of the pandemic on units set up under Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP). The findings are interesting.

The NSIC study found 91% MSMEs to be functional, but unfortunately majority of these units have been facing a number of challenges, as regards to liquidity (55% units), fresh orders (17% units), labour (9% units), logistics (12% units) and availability of raw material (8% units). These findings are not at all encouraging and they reflect the hardship being faced by the overall MSME sector during these difficult times.

Similarly, the KVIC study found 88% of the beneficiaries of PMEGP scheme hit hard by Covid-19. Among those who were affected, 57% stated that their units were shut down for some time during this period, while 30% reported drop in production and revenue. Most importantly, majority of the beneficiaries expressed the need for additional financial support, relaxation of waiver of interest and marketing support for their products.

The above studies point out to the fact that though the Centre has taken several steps to help our MSMEs and startups to counter the impact of Covid 19, they need more support at this crucial juncture to return to the growth path. It is also notable here that a large fraction of small enterprises operate in the informal, unorganised sector, and the Centre should strain every nerve to identify and solve their problems as well.

I invite your opinions.