AN UNKIND CUT
The 21-day lockdown in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic will be in force till April 14. But cash-starved micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) remain uncertain about their future and survival for months beyond this period. The 63 million MSMEs are the lifeline of India’s economy as well as big employers, providing livelihood to 110 million people, around 40 per cent of the total workforce. They account for 48 per cent of exports and contribute 30 per cent to the nation’s GDP.
Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have announced a host of measures to bring relief to MSMEs but that hasn’t calmed their nerves yet.
The RBI has allowed banks and other financial institutions to provide a moratorium of three months to all term loan borrowers for all loans due for payment between March 1 and May 31. It also allowed banks to defer interest on working capital by three months, besides easing compliance in GST.
Earlier, in a major relief, RBI permitted one-time recast of
