MSMEs’ Key Demands from Union Budget 2015: SMEStreet Survey

Union Budget always comes with great hopes and expectations from every section of the society. In last 10 months, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led Government has laid down some aggressive plans for bringing much needed reforms. The last ten months have strengthened hopes for reforms. In all of this, MSMEs have managed to grab the center stage of policy making.

A majority of focus is been given on MSMEs and this Considering the scenario, SMEStreet has reached out to MSMEs and conducted a nationwide survey focusing on ‘Indian MSMEs’ expectations from the Union Budget 2015.’

The survey covered MSMEs from over 50 Industry Clusters from various parts of the country. The survey covered almost every industry segment with a majority of manufacturing domain.

The breakup of survey outreach includes 43% of Manufacturing segment, 28% of IT/ITeS and 29% of Services sector. The inputs that have emerged as a result of this activity show a strong voice of expectations from Indian MSMEs which is a high potential segment for the Indian economy.

While commenting on the overall perspective of the survey, Faiz Askari, Editor of SMEStreet.in said, “Government of India, in last few months, has announced several initiatives that are designed to uplift the Indian MSMEs. As an impact of such outlook towards MSMEs, there is a huge amount of expectations from the policy makers and the finance ministry. This survey results shows and indicates what the key demands of Indian MSMEs are and what should be the line of action towards bringing reforms.”

Specific demands such as ease in Service Tax, amendments in New Procurement Policy and ensuring financial credit availability are among key expectations

Key Points of SMEStreet Survey on ‘Indian MSMEs’ expectations from the Union Budget 2015’:

1. 72% of MSME respondents want single window system for their taxation and documentation work.
2. Only 16% MSMEs are expecting Government led Funding to help their financial.
3. 9% entrepreneurs want better version of Labor Laws.
4. 22% MSMEs want that The New Procurement Policy should have more motivation for MSMEs.
5. 7% MSMEs want GST roll out should be managed by the central authorities.
6. 3 % MSMEs considers that ‘Make In India’ program is out of reach for them.
7. 61% MSMEs want better and relaxation in the service tax.
8. 36% MSMEs want FDI inflow to get a boost in this year’s budget.
9. 61% MSMEs want raw material which they procure for their production must be made available to them at a special rate.
10. 29% MSMEs want the Government to promote and ensure the penetration of Pro -MSME policies.
11. 83% of MSMEs in the survey wants Incentives on their Skill Development activities and Academic Upgradation.
12. 26% MSMEs want that the New Procurement policy should be made mandatory from this Budget.

This activity was conducted between January to February 2015 and it established a strong connect between SMESTreet and the MSMEs. The activity helped in understanding opinions, expectations and issues that matter to the MSMEs’ most. SMEStreet is formed with an objective to ensure a valued knowledge & networking platform for this segment.

In last six months, SMEStreet have conducted three such survey activities, on various industry specific topics.

“We will continue to build Indian MSME’s strong voice by reaching out to the sector on regular basis. The next level of activity will be focused on Budget Impact on MSMEs. We have also selected topics such as status of finance among MSMEs and Online Best Practices among MSMEs,” informed Faiz Askari.