Swain said the government is promoting e-market linkages for MSMEs to market products at virtual trade fairs and exhibitions. (Image: Twitter/MSME Ministry)

Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: The government is getting a good response on the Udyam registration portal as nearly 6 million MSMEs have registered in around a 15-month period since its launch in comparison to five years taken to reach 10 million registrations with the earlier model of registration, said MSME secretary BB Swain at a virtual CII event on Thursday. Launched on July 1, 2020, for paperless and zero-cost registration of businesses in the wake of the Covid pandemic, the Udyam portal has recorded 5.76 million registrations, as of November 25, 2021, official data showed.

“The pandemic has underscored the need to move to a digital platform. This move hasn’t been easy and a lot of adjustment has been required. For some MSMEs, this has become the only mode of surviving. We are getting a good response on the Udyam portal. If you look at the earlier model, it had taken around five years to reach 10 million (registrations), here in 14-15 months, we are reaching almost 6 million,” Swain said addressing the CII Global MSME Business Summit.

As per the MSME Ministry annual report 2020-21, there were 1.02 crores Udyog Aadhaar Memorandum (UAM)-registered MSMEs between September 2015 and June 2020 apart from nearly 22 lakh units registered under Entrepreneur Memorandum (EM) II between 2007 and 2015. Before the MSME Development Act, 2006, came into effect, small scale industrial units had to register themselves with the District Industries Centres (DICs). Later under the provisions of the act, entrepreneurs had to file EM-I at DICs before setting up the MSME and EM-II after beginning the production work. Last year, UAM was replaced by the Udyam portal.

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Importantly, in June this year, MSME Ministry had extended the EM– II or UAM registrations — obtained by MSMEs before June 30, 2020, and valid till March 31, 2021 — till this year-end. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had clarified last year that existing EMs II and/or UAMs of MSMEs obtained before June 30, 2020, will continue to remain valid till March 31, 2021, even as MSMEs had to register on the Udyam Registration portal before March this year. This meant nearly 6 million Udyam registrations include existing MSMEs as well that had to re-register themselves. However, the share of both new and existing MSMEs registering on the portal couldn’t be ascertained.

Swain added that the government is promoting e-market linkages for MSMEs to market products at virtual trade fairs and exhibitions. He added that “the ministry has developed a dedicated support system for export promotion for MSME sector by establishing 52 export facilitation cells in MSME DIS, MSME Technology Centres, and MSME Testing Centres.”

Also, a National Resources Database System — a global market intelligence system for MSME units is also being developed. “This system is proposed to act as a central knowledge repository of export-related data on foreign markets. It will provide simplified information on trade statistics, market access issues and export potential indicators,” added Swain.