Annual Procurement from MSMEs Fell Short of Policy

Since 2019, the government has, on average, procured 2.03% of MSMEs owned by members of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities and 2.46% of MSMEs owned by women entrepreneurs. The required annual percentage is 4% and 3%, respectively, according to the Public Procurement Policy for Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) Order, 2012.

These figures were given by the Union government in response to Congress MP Mukul Wasnik’s question on the annual procurement of goods and services from MSMEs owned by Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and women since 2019 and its percentage to the total procurement from MSMEs, and whether the government has any plans to enhance the level of procurement from SC, ST, and women entrepreneurs and also to include MSMEs owned by persons with disabilities for preferential purchase.

The answer was given by the minister of state for MSMEs, Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma.

The figures, since 2019-2020 and till 2023-2024, say that the highest procurement was in 2022-2023, at Rs 63,835.23 crore. That year, only Rs 1,500.23 crores, or 2.35%, were procured from MSMEs owned by SC and ST entrepreneurs, and Rs 2,196.48 crores, or 3.44%, were procured from women. The government said in the reply that “a number of steps have been taken to enhance the level of procurement from SC, ST, and women entrepreneurs.”

 Minister cited

1. A National SC/ST Hub scheme launched in October 2016 and was implemented by the National Small Industries Corporation.
2. Special vendor development programs and buyer-seller meetings. It added that since 2019, a total of 960,007 vendor MSEs have benefited, which include 38,952 SC/ST-owned MSEs and 45,507 women-owned MSEs.
3. The MSME SAMBANDH Portal was launched on December 8, 2017, to monitor the implementation of the public procurement policy for micro and small enterprises.
4. The Ministry of MSME said it is actively engaged with the Department of Public Enterprises for better coordination with Central Public Sector Enterprises or government procuring entities.
5. He said that in order to provide easy access to procurement demands from government buyers, an online portal called Government e-Marketplace, or GeM, has been made and regular follow-ups are done.