Retail, wholesale trades get MSME status

The Union Government revised the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) guidelines to extend the benefit of priority sector lending (PSL) to crores of retail and wholesale traders. According to the government, this move will benefit 2.5 crore traders across the country, writes Shravan Nune.

New Delhi: In a major relief for crores of traders across the country, the Union Government has recognised retail as well as wholesale trades as micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME). Taking to Twitter on Friday, Union Minister of MSME, Road Transport, and Highways Nitin Gadkari announced that MSME guidelines were revised to extend the benefit of priority sector lending (PSL) to traders.

“Retail and wholesale trade were left out of the ambit of MSME. Under the revised guidelines, MSME has issued order to include retail and wholesale trade as MSME and extending to them the benefit of priority sector lending under RBI guidelines,” the minister said in a tweet. The minister further said the decision was taken to make MSMEs engines for economic growth.

“Under the leadership of PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji, we are committed to strengthening of MSME and make them engines for economic growth. The revised guidelines will benefit 2.5 Cr Retail and Wholesale Traders,” added the minister. According to the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), the decision will help Covid-19 affected businesses in accessing easy credit from banks.

“With this decision, the traders will fall under the MSME category and will be able to avail requisite finances from the banks and financial institutions under Priority Sector Lending. Besides, now the traders will also be enjoying several other benefits of various other Government schemes which are being enjoyed by the MSME category,” Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General of CAIT, said in a statement sent to ETV Bharat.

Trading activities provide employment to about 40 crore people and generate an annual turnover of Rs 115 lakh crore, he added.

Priority Sector Lending (PSL) is a special credit facility offered by all major banks for identified sectors like agriculture, MSMEs, education, housing, exports, renewable energy, etc. According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norms, all scheduled commercial banks and foreign banks are mandated to set aside 40 per cent of their Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANDC) for lending to these sectors.

Similarly, regional rural banks and co-operative banks must allocate 75 per cent of their net credit to the priority sectors identified by the RBI.

Besides the credit under PSL, the revised guidelines will help traders in accessing credit under the ECLGS.

In 2020, the Union Government unveiled Rs 3 lakh crore worth Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) to provide unsecured loans to MSMEs affected by Covid-19-induced restrictions on economic activities. Earlier this week, the Union Ministry of Finance infused an additional Rs 1.5 lakh crore into this scheme.