Accordingly lakhs of the workers employed with the micro, small and medium industries may not get their salaries this month as most of the units are shut due to lockdown amid coronavirus crisis. The noida Entrepreneur Association claims that most industries are financially struggling and it’s not possible to pay salaries for the month of april as they have not received any relief from the government. noida MSMEs have over 8 lakh workers for which the monthly expenditure is around Rs 1500 crore in the form of salaries.
Union minister for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises nitin gadkari recently announced financial aid of Rs 1 lakh crore for the revival of collapsing industries due to lockdown. Due to falling economic conditions, the micro and small industries had to shut down their operations whereas many others are not in a condition to pay salaries to their workers. During an interaction via video conferencing with the representatives of the Associated Chambers of Commerce of india (ASSOCHAM) on the impact of COVID-19 on MSMEs, Gadkari had said that the government is working on a separate scheme to address delayed payments issues of MSMEs wherein a dedicated fund will be created for payments to MSMEs.
Gadkari said "We have prepared a fund of Rs 1 lakh crore and the government will pay for the insurance. We will fix and formula and on how to coordinate between all three stakeholders the one who has to receive money, the one who has to pay money and bank". Struggling to keep afloat the business, the noida Entrepreneur Association (NEA) which is a body of over 127000 MSMEs in Western Uttar Pradesh has written to the government seeking immediate help for their survival. “We are struggling for months, initially it was the bad economic condition and now coronavirus. We are not in a position to give salaries to workers,” said Vipin Malhan, president of NEA.
