Challenges and Opportunities of India’s Micro Small Medium Enterprises in the New Era of Post COVID
Abstract This paper examines the possible changes from the new definition of Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the Manufacturing and Services sector using NSS 73rd round data and Annual Survey of Industry (ASI). The paper further analyses the nature of registered/unregistered enterprises in MSMEs. Analysis reveals that 16.1 percent (3.2 million), 38 percent (16.6 million), and 31.2 percent (19.8 million) enterprises are registered in manufacturing, services, and whole economy respectively. It is worthy to note that share of unregistered enterprises in overall loan taken by the enterprises is only 2 percent, the remaining 98 percent of loan has been provided to registered enterprises. Registered enterprises easily access the loan from the formal channels while unregistered enterprises face problems in accessing loan from the formal channels. The regression result shows that the number of skilled workers, the firm’s registration, modernization, and environmental monitor variables have a positive impact on the MSMEs output value. The large enterprises need to make structural changes with focus on generating employment at a larger scale in order to take advantage of the recent trade war between China and other developing countries. There is a simultaneous scope to promote larger enterprises with MSMEs.