2,649 MSME units shut down their business in the State

-- Aurangabad consists of 210 SMEs

-- Maharashtra tops the list in the country

VAIBHAV PARWAT

Aurangabad, Aug 23:

The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Maharashtra have been hit hardest by the corona lockdown and slow down that prevailed after the unlock. From July 1, 2020 to July 1, 2022 in all, 2,649 units in Maharashtra and 9,267 units of SMEs were closed in the country. Interestingly, in the four months from April 1, 2022 to July 20, 2022, 815 MSMEs were closed in the State, this includes 210 units in Aurangabad.

Big industries saved themselves in the corona crisis between the year 2021-22 in the country. But MSMEs could not recover from this quickly. Due to the lockdown and crisis, the small industries had to close their doors. Between July 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021, only 175 units were closed in the country. Later, during the financial year from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022, a significant 6,222 units were closed in 12 months, followed by 2,870 units were closed between April 1, 2022 to July 20, 2022. Meanwhile, only three MSMEs were closed in Maharashtra between July 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021. But after that there was a big increase. From April 1, 2021 to April 30, 2022, a massive 2,646 units were closed down. Also, from July 1, 2020 to April 30, 2022, all 210 units were closed in Aurangabad district. As thousands of units closed down in the State, it badly affected the employment generation.

SMEs need financial packages

At present, Aurangabad has 5000 MSME units generating about 85,000 jobs with an investment of Rs 1000 crores. Many SMEs went into severe losses during the slowdown. The government should pay more attention to providing packages to the SME sector, before the situation gets worse, said Massia president Kiran Jagtap.

Maharashtra tops the list of closed units:

State MSMEs (closed)

Maharashtra: 2,649

Gujarat : 832

Uttar Pradesh : 762

Tamil Nadu : 740

Bihar: 714

Rajasthan : 390

Punjab : 286