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New Delhi, Sep 19 (IANS): After claiming that the government has no data on the deaths of migrant labourers amid the nationwide lockdown as well as doctors who lost their lives due to Covid-19, the Centre on Saturday said that it has no record of MSMEs that have faced closure in the wake of the pandemic.
Interestingly, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Pratap Chandra Sarangi also said that there is no data on the number of MSMEs closed down from FY 2014-15 to FY 2019-20.
On a question on the number of small and medium businesses closed from March to August 2020 due to the economic distress, the Minister said: "No such record is available."
He, however, enumerated the steps taken by the government to support the MSMEs to revive, including the INR 20,000 crore subordinate debt for MSMEs, INR 3 lakh crore collateral-free automatic loans for business, including MSMEs, and INR 50,000 crore equity infusion through 'MSME Fund of Funds'.
The Minister also mentioned the revised criteria for classification of MSMEs and new registration of MSMEs through 'Udyam Registration' for ease-of-doing business, among other initiatives.
As per the government data on MSMEs, over 90.58 lakh such units exist in the country.