Financial Services News

Coming soon: Udyam-like registration portal for MSMEs

[ad_1]

Ease of doing business for MSMEs: Now MSMEs operating in the country would have another official portal, apart from the existing Udyam Registration portal, to register themselves and avail the benefits of priority sector lending. The upcoming portal Udyam Assist Platform (UAM) by SIDBI will cater to the registration of informal units as part of the endeavour by the government and SIDBI to enhance the formalisation of the MSME sector. 

According to an order by the Development Commissioner (DC) Office of the MSME ministry on December 23, “With reference to the launch and implementation of Formalization Project of the Ministry of MSME and SIDBI for bringing the Informal Micro Enterprises (IMEs) into the formal ambit, it is to mention that the certificate issued on the UAP would be treated at par with Udyam Registration Certificate for IMEs for availing of the benefits of Priority Sector Lending (PSL).” 

Also read: Over 55,000 MSMEs cancelled their Udyam registration so far; 55% in current fiscal: Govt data

Comments on UAP’s launch weren’t immediately available from SIDBI.

Importantly, SIDBI had proposed to develop the UAP to “help accelerate by widespread registration of MSMEs (including informal enterprises which constitute more than 95 per cent of the MSMEs in the country) on the Udyam portal,” according to a report by the standing committee on finance headed by Jayant Sinha, Member of Parliament and former Minister of State for Finance in April this year.

Apart from making the registered entities eligible for benefits under government schemes, they can also be seamlessly connected to the fast-emerging digital ecosystem including platforms like GeM, TReDS, Invoicemart, other digital marketplaces, etc. The MSMEs can be made KYC and credit ready to allow them access to various options of financial services at various stages of their growth, according to the report. 

For developing UAP, SIDBI had also sought support from the MSME ministry to authorise it to act as the ministry’s “Authorised Agency” for UAP registrations and for appointing Designated Agencies (DAs) on UAP. It had also requested the ministry for integration of UAM with the Udyam registration number for easy data transfer of enterprises between two platforms. Lastly, SIDBI had also requested the ministry of Rs 50 crore support for implementing the UAP project.

Also read: FE Exclusive: Udyam registration to be mandatory for MSMEs seeking credit guarantee cover under CGTMSE

The standing committee report had noted that SIDBI is closely connected to a vast ecosystem of Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs), Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs), Business Correspondents (BCs), banks, fintechs, etc., who can support this process. Moreover, “SIDBI also has access to deep data bases viz., Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE), National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Ltd. (NCGTC), The SME Rating Agency (SMERA), Prime Minister’s Street Vendor’s Admanirbhar Nidhi (PMSvanidhi) etc. which will be leveraged for this project.”

The addition of a new platform is expected to accelerate the count of registered MSMEs in the country based on the revised MSME definition by the government and help in formulating new or revamping existing policies. The current count of Udyam-registered units was 1.30 crore, of which 1.24 crore were micro enterprises, 4.34 lakh were small businesses, and 39,803 were medium units. 

Subscribe to Financial Express SME newsletter now: Your weekly dose of news, views, and updates from the world of micro, small, and medium enterprises 

“The multiplicity of issues which we face in the MSME sector, it is probably a multi-pronged approach which is more suitable. The first obvious step here, which is also kind of the biggest ambition of the MSME Ministry is to identify micro, small and medium entrepreneurs and to bring them under a formal structure. Formalisation is our primary target and the biggest ambition,” MSME secretary BB Swain had said at the MSME Business Conclave organised by Financial Express Online (FE Aspire) in July this year.



[ad_2]

Source link