DEFINING TRANSPORT MSMES

Transporters have been demanding the status of MSMEs with the hope that it would benefit them.

- Deepti Thore

The road freight (transport) fraternity has been demanding the status of MSMEs for a long time. It is doing so with the hope that is would benefit them. However, the proposition does not look as simple as it made out to be. In a recent interaction with AITWA members, Vijay Kumar, Director, MSME Development Institute, MSME-New Delhi, expressed that the change in the definition of MSME means that a transport business investing around Rupees-one crore and having a turnover of around Rupeesfive crore will be called a micro-unit. A (transport) industry with an investment of Rs.10 crore and a turnover of Rs.50 crore will be called as a small scale industry, he mentioned. The one with an investment of Rs.50 crore and a turnover of up to Rs.250 crore will be called as a medium-scale enterprise, he added. Informing that the changes regarding MSMEs are part of the Rs.20 trillion financial package announced by the Government against the background of the pandemic, Kumar averred that the same will indirectly benefit the growth of industrial economy of India.

Mahendra Arya, President, AITWA.