Street Vendors Can Also Now Avail Benefit Of Priority Sector Lending: Eco Survey

New Delhi, Jan 31 : Street vendors can also register as retail traders on Udyam Registration (UR) portal and avail the benefit of priority sector lending from banks, Economic Survey tabled in Parliament said. Listing out measures taken by the government to ease of doing business for small enterprises during pandemic, the Survey said that retail and wholesale trades are now included as MSMEs and allowed to be registered on Udyam Registration Portal.

“However, the benefits to retail and wholesale trade MSMEs are to be restricted to Priority Sector Lending only. In this regard, now, street vendors can also register as retail traders on Udyam Registration (UR) portal and avail the benefit of priority sector lending,” the Survey said. The recent measures taken by the government to improve the ease of doing business for the MSMEs include the launch of the new Udyam Registration Portal in July 2020. The registration process under this is fully online, digital, paperless and is based on self-declaration. No documents or proof are required to be uploaded for registering as a micro, small and medium enterprise. Aadhaar and PAN are required for registration and details on investment and turnover of enterprises are taken automatically from relevant Government databases.

“New registration process has boosted the ease of doing business for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by reducing transaction time and costs,” said the Survey. As on January 17, 2022. as many as 66,34,006 enterprises have registered on the Udyam portal, out of which 62,79,858 are micro; 3,19,793 are small; and 34,355 are medium enterprises. The Survey said that government has taken several initiatives to nurture and promote the MSMEs. It noted that revision in the definition of MSMEs brought in July 2020 as part of the AtmaNirbhar Bharat package introduced a composite-criteria of investment and annual turnover- and identical limits for manufacturing and services sector. “The modified definition of MSMEs will facilitate expansion and growth of these enterprises,” the Survey said.