Parul
The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises will soon sign an agreement with the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), the IT backbone of goods and services tax (GST), for sharing of data related to small and medium enterprises as it looks to widen its reach to such enterprises, an official source said.
Around 44 lakh micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are registered with the ministry’s Udyog Aadhaar portal, while the number of MSMEs on the GSTN database is around one crore. As a result of the move, the number of MSMEs registered under Udyog Aadhaar could shoot up to one crore, the official said.
The data-sharing will enable the government to reach out to more MSMEs and educate them on benefits offered by government schemes. Moreover, these businesses will be able to acquire credit at a lower cost, while improving the flow of credit.
A senior ministry official called the GST database authentic and said that the ministry was hoping that it could link its figures based on the Udyog Aadhaar with the GST data. According to sources, top officials in the MSME ministry have already spoken to their counterparts in the finance ministry in this regard. Another official said that a memorandum of understanding would soon be signed for data sharing and integration between the MSME ministry and the GSTN.
(With PTI inputs)
