State focuses on MSME dispute resolution

Kolkata: State MSME director Anurag Srivastava said that the state government is focusing more on awareness so that more MSMEs turn up at the facilitation council for resolution of their disputes. The centre runs at the MSME directorate situated at New Secretariat Building.

"The MSME sector has a lot of employment opportunities but at the same time they are vulnerable to market risks and big players sometimes do not pay them in time. We have a full-fledged facilitation council in the state and in 2018, 102 cases has been settled and Rs 44 crores has been settled. This figure was one in 2007 and Rs 56000 was settled. We are making good progress but still have a long way to go," Srivastava said at a programme titled 'Mediation-A cost effective option for resolution of disputes for SMEs' organised by Bengal Chamber in collaboration with Bombay Chamber. The number of cases were 46 in 2017 and Rs 14 crore was settled. He claimed that most of the cases that come up are settled in the conciliation stage and only some of them go for arbitration.

"There have been a few instances when the order passed by the council has been stayed at the Calcutta High Court," he added.