Industry asks govt to make Vivad se Vishwas scheme attractive for MSMEs

The industry has suggested that the Vivad se Vishwas scheme announced in the Budget for MSMEs should be made attractive in terms of reimbursements and interest rates, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

They also demanded a robust grievance redressal system on digital portals and a mechanism to resolve disputes before the initiation of an arbitration process.

These issues were raised during a post-Budget webinar on 'Ease of doing business using technology, especially for small businesses', organised by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

To give relief to MSMEs, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the 2023-24 Budget announced the 'Vivad se Vishwas-I' scheme.

Under the scheme, in case of failure by MSMEs to execute contracts during the Covid period, 95 per cent of the forfeited amount relating to bid or performance security will be returned to them by government and government undertakings.

DPIIT Joint Secretary Manmeet K Nanda, who moderated the session, told reporters that the government would look into the issues flagged in the meeting. The industry "felt that the amount which the government is reimbursing, it should be higher," she said.

The finance ministry has asked all departments and public sector entities to refund 95 per cent of the performance or bid security and liquidated damages forfeited/ deducted from small and medium businesses in government tenders for over two years till March 31, 2022.

Nanda also expressed hope that the Jan Vishwas Bill, which proposes to decriminalise hundreds of minor offences, will come up for the Parliament's approval in the current Budget session, that starts after a break from March 13.

In December, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal introduced in the Lok Sabha the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2022 to decriminalise minor offences to promote ease of business.
The bill was referred to a 31-member joint committee of Parliament for scrutiny.

Amit Pandey, Vice President of the Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association (IVCA), highlighted the need for having a Common Business Identifier (CBI) due to variety of identification numbers issued by different government agencies such as PAN, TIN, and GSTIN.

To ensure that the CBI is meeting the needs of businesses, the government should establish a robust feedback mechanism, encouraging adoption, ensuring data privacy and security, streamlining registration and compliance processes, he added.

Piruze Khambatta, Chairman of the CII National Committee on Affirmative Action, sought simplification of KYC process. He also called for an appellate mechanism for faster resolution of cases involving penalties due to KYC related non-compliances.

Viswanathan Ravichandran, Executive Director Technology at EY, stressed on the need for a Unified Filing Process to increase transparency in compliance requirements and facilitate the same through a single window.

Anil Bhardwaj, Secretary General of the Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises, mentioned about the Vivad se Vishwas scheme for relief to MSMEs.