Union Budget 2022: What MSME’s expect from FM Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget

Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance minister of India is all set to present the Union Budget for the financial year 2022-23 on 1st February. The Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector is optimistic about the same.

Simplifying taxation, investment, and offering further incentives to Indian startups & MSMEs are some of the expectations from Union Budget 2022.

“MSMEs are looking for measures to improve the credit lending and accessibility of funds that can mobilise growth. We expect that the Union Budget will focus on simplifying taxation, investment, and offering further incentives to Indian startups & MSME's, that can help in generating more revenue and employment,” Vibhor Sahare, CEO & Co-Founder, ANS Commerce

Further, measures such as streamlining approvals, compliance for ease of doing business, quicker adoption of technology, and automation by traditional retailers would be immensely helpful to the e-commerce industry. More entrepreneurship and incubation programs should also be a priority, he added.

Lokendra Ranawat, CEO, WoodenStreet said," we are also optimistic about a pick-up in overall credit demand across India. There should be a push towards affordable and rental housing and reinforcing the existing financing systems to provide liquidity to stuck real estate projects."

MSMEs in the international market play a pivotal role in the Indian economy, so the introduction of subsidies in this budget can also give this sector a big boost.

“Introduction of some norms in the ‘Need to Trade’ policy to facilitate easy business for MSMEs in the domestic as well as the international market is what we are looking forward to in this Budget,” says Chandan Garg, Chairman & MD, Innovana Group

In the union budget 2021-22, i.e. the last year, a number of steps were taken to support the MSME sector and the Government had provided ₹15,700 crore to this sector. The Budget had proposed certain changes to benefit MSMEs which include increasing duty on steel screws, plastic builder wares and prawn feed. Rationalizing exemption on import of duty-free items as an incentive to exporters of garments, leather and handicraft items were some other announcements made by FM Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting Budget 2021.

On December 30, Finance Minister held a pre-budget meeting with all the state finance ministers. This was a part of a series of consultations held in the run-up to the Union Budget 2022-23.