MSME Bill introduced, looks to speed up payments

Our Bureau

New Delhi: The government Tuesday introduced in the Rajya Sabha the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026, aimed at strengthening the mechanism for addressing delayed payments to small businesses and improving ease of doing business.

The Bill seeks to amend the MSME Development Act, 2006. "There is a need to improve and modify the (Act) made in 2006," MSME minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said.


A key provision of the Bill is to strengthen the framework for addressing delayed payments, a long-standing challenge for micro and small enterprises that often strains their liquidity and disrupts business operations.

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It also seeks to provide for the enforcement of arbitral awards in favour of micro and small enterprises, with the objective of ensuring that decisions arising from arbitration proceedings are implemented more effectively and without undue delay.

The Bill also proposes to give states greater flexibility in determining the composition of the Micro and Small Enterprises Facilitation Council, the statutory body responsible for resolving disputes related to delayed payments. The move aims to create an enabling framework that allows states to tailor the council's composition to their specific requirements.