The Railway Suppliers’ Association here has appealed to the Union Minister for Railways to take steps to clear the dues to Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs) at the earliest.
In a press release, the Association said the MSME Ministry had written to nearly 2,800 companies asking them to make pending payments to the MSMEs by the end of this month. The Railway Board also urged all its bill-paying officials to clear the dues to MSMEs without delay. However, there were units with payments due for almost a year.
While the Railways had introduced an online system to pay the bills for regular store items, payments were not made immediately for non-regular purchases. While the MSMEs faced penalty for delayed supplies, there was no such clause for delayed payments from the Railways. It should pay interest to the MSMEs for the pending amount. Similarly, zones that defaulted in payments regularly should be identified. Similarly, since the supply chain and logistics were yet to be streamlined, after relaxations in lockdown, the MSMEs should not be taken to task for delay in supply, the Association said in the release.
