The Payments Conundrum

The big talk about huge loans being given to this sector is no more than just that, big talk. It seems India has patience only for multi-billion dollar organisations and not for those who provide sustenance for most of the workforce of the country

MSME in India is the most neglected am ong all business sectors. Everybody is aware of this, yet no substantial steps have been taken so far to ameliorate the pains of this sector that employs over 11 crore Indians (the largest, after agriculture), accounts for 95 percent of all industrial units and nearly 50 percent of exports.

Invest India, The National Investment Promotion & Facilitation Agency of the country, for example, boasts that “development of this sector, thus, holds key to inclusive growth and plays a critical role in India’s future.” And yet, there is little to show that this organisation has done any quality work in streamlining this sector, or to secure for it easy and low-interest loans from banks. The big talk about huge loans being given to this sector is no more than just that, big talk. So is the talk about assuring for them payments from larger companies they supply to, including government agencies, such as the Railways.

Nobody wants this responsibility, yet the disgusting way in which banks and other official agencies treat small unit owners is to be seen to be believed. The government, apparently, cannot see this. The attitude is so pathetic that small unit owners, who often put their life’s savings, including household gold, on the line to save their businesses and their employees, come to believe that the government actually wants them to shut shop and just disappear. It seems India has patience only for multi-billion dollar organisations, not for those who provide sustenance for most of the workforce of the country.