New Delhi, September 4: On Thursday, Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Nitin Gadkari will chair a meeting to discuss issues related to the sector, including delayed payments of MSMEs. According to an ET Retail report, the meeting is expected to be attended by representatives from RBI, CPSEs, industry associations, among others.

MSMEs have been expressing concern over the failure of the Micro and Small Enterprise Facilitation Council (MSEFC) in resolving cases of delayed payments within the stipulated 90 days. Nitin Gadkari Faints During National Anthem at an Event in Maharashtra’s Solapur; Watch Video.

In a meeting held in August this year, industry representatives raised issues regarding lack of access to credit for MSMEs with Gadkari and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and asked the government to have MSMEs accommodated in the list of priority sector lending from NBFCs. Sitharaman on August 23 highlighted that GST dues of MSMEs will be cleared within one month, as she announced several measures to boost the economy.

Last month, while speaking at the celebration of 200th listing on the NSE’s SME platform EMERGE, Gadkari said, "The MSME sector contributes 29 percent to country's GDP, and the government plans to take it to 50 per cent in next 5 years." He further added that the sector currently employs about 11 crore people and the government would take this figure to 15 crore in the next five years.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 04, 2019 10:39 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).