32 Maharatna & Navratna PSUs owe Rs 512.34 cr to MSMEs

New Delhi: Data collected from the CPSEs, as on March 31, showed that they had pending bills from MSMEs worth Rs 775.76 crore as on March 1. Bills worth Rs 2,730.46 crore were received during the month and a total of Rs 2,813.39 crore were paid till March 31.  For the month of April, bills worth Rs 1,598.27 crore were received and the CPSEs made payment of Rs 1,785.78 crore leaving a balance of Rs 512.34 crore. These PSUs have told the government that the majority of the bills were received in the last week of April and under process for payment.

The Department of Expenditure under the Ministry of Finance, has been monitoring, on a monthly basis, the performance of the 32 top Maharatna and Navratna Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) to review their capital expenditure and the dues to vendors with specific emphasis on MSME vendors since August 2019.

Clear directions have been given that the CPSEs must ensure that regular payments are cleared expeditiously as it spurs the investment cycle. Special efforts must be made to clear dues of MSMEs and resolve cases on the SAMADHAN portal of the Department of MSME. Secretary (Expenditure) wrote a letter in the last week of April 2020 to the Secretaries of the Ministers and Departments requesting them to monitor the due payments by the CPSEs.

Public procurement as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the country is estimated between 20 percent to 22 percent. The share of the gross turnover of CPSEs to the GDP of India at current prices is around 15 to 16 percent. The government wants the CPSEs to double their contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) and be the "third major source" of revenue for the Centre after direct and indirect taxes. CPSEs must make efforts to reduce the country's imports bill and expanding India's global strategic reach by 2022, said an official statement from the Ministry of Finance.

Responding to the instructions given by the Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitahraman in her meeting with the top officials of the CPSEs in September 2019 and constant monitoring by Department of Expenditure, CPSEs have reduced their payment cycle considerably for the vendors in general and MSME vendors in particular.