Maduravoyal-Vanagaram Road MSME / Udyam Registration — Chennai West

Sub-section (h) of Section 2 of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act 2006 defines the term enterprise as an industrial undertaking or a business concern or any other establishment engaged in the manufacture or production of goods pertaining to any industry specified in the First Schedule to the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act 1951, or engaged in providing or rendering of any service or services. It is to be noted that this definitional anchor decides which activity qualifies for classification as a micro, small or medium enterprise and, by extension, which activity may obtain a Udyam Registration certificate.

Sub-section (1) of Section 7 of the MSMED Act 2006, as substantively amended through Notification S.O. 2119(E) dated 26-06-2020, provides the composite criteria for classification of enterprises. An enterprise is classified as micro where investment in plant and machinery or equipment does not exceed one crore rupees and turnover does not exceed five crore rupees; as small where the corresponding figures do not exceed ten crore and fifty crore rupees; and as medium where they do not exceed fifty crore and two hundred fifty crore rupees respectively. Both the investment and turnover ceilings have to be satisfied simultaneously.

Section 8 of the Act prescribes the filing of a Memorandum by the enterprise. Following the regime change of 01-07-2020, this Memorandum has been replaced by the Udyam Registration filed online on the Udyam Registration Portal. Sub-section (1) of Section 8 read with Notification G.S.R. 621(E) dated 25-06-2020 lays down that the filing is paperless, based on self-declaration, and integrated with the PAN and GSTIN databases of the enterprise.

Section 16 provides that where the buyer fails to make payment to the supplier as required under Section 15, the buyer shall be liable to pay compound interest with monthly rests at three times the bank rate notified by the Reserve Bank of India, computed from the appointed day or from the date immediately following the date agreed upon. This interest liability is statutory and cannot be contracted out of by the parties.

Clause (h) of Section 43B of the Income Tax Act 1961, inserted by the Finance Act 2023 with effect from assessment year 2024-25, provides that any sum payable by the assessee to a micro or small enterprise beyond the time limit specified in Section 15 of the MSMED Act 2006 shall be allowed as a deduction only in the previous year in which the sum is actually paid. The first proviso to Section 43B is not extended to clause (h); consequently the payment-on-or-before-due-date safe harbour is not available.

Section 22 of the Act mandates that where any buyer is required to get its annual accounts audited under any law for the time being in force, such buyer shall furnish in the audited annual accounts the principal amount and the interest due thereon remaining unpaid to any supplier as at the end of each accounting year, the amount of interest paid by the buyer under Section 16, the amount of payments made beyond the appointed day, the amount of interest accrued and remaining unpaid, and the amount of further interest remaining due and payable.

What is Udyam Registration and why does it matter

Economic significance and policy objective

The U.K. Sinha Committee Report 2019 on MSME finance documented that the MSME sector contributes approximately thirty per cent of national gross value added and is responsible for forty-five per cent of national manufacturing output and forty per cent of exports. The OECD SME Policy Index 2018 placed India in the middle band of comparable jurisdictions on the dimension of MSME formalisation, with the principal weakness being low coverage of the very-small and informal end of the sector. The policy objective of the Udyam regime is therefore twofold: to bring informal enterprises into the recorded universe through low-friction self-declaration, and to make the recorded universe legally bankable through automatic data-linkage with PAN, GST and TReDS, thereby reducing the credit-information asymmetry that has historically constrained MSME lending in India.

Headline benefits at a glance

An Udyam-registered enterprise becomes eligible for the Public Procurement Policy for MSEs Order 2012 (revised 2018) under which central ministries, departments and Central Public Sector Enterprises must source twenty-five per cent of their annual procurement from Micro and Small Enterprises. It becomes a protected supplier under Section 43B(h) of the Income Tax Act inserted by Finance Act 2023, enabling automatic disallowance of corresponding deductions in the buyer's hands if payment is not made within forty-five days of acceptance. It qualifies for collateral-free credit under the CGTMSE scheme up to ₹500 lakh, for priority-sector lending classification under RBI/2017-18/82, for participation in the TReDS receivables-financing framework, and for several state-level interest-subvention and electricity-tariff-rebate schemes.

Statutory basis under the MSMED Act 2006

Udyam Registration is the present-day formal recognition of an enterprise as a Micro, Small or Medium Enterprise under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act 2006 (the MSMED Act). The Act was enacted on the recommendation of the S.P. Gupta Study Group on Development of Small Enterprises and replaced the earlier industries-development legislation that had only recognised small-scale industrial units. The Udyam Registration regime itself was constituted by Notification S.O. 1702(E) of 26-06-2020 issued by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in exercise of powers under Section 7 read with Section 8 of the MSMED Act, supplemented by G.S.R.621(E) which established the Udyam Registration portal as the single window for the entire process. The certificate is a legal recognition; it is not a licence to do business, but it unlocks an entire suite of statutory, fiscal and procurement-related benefits.

Micro and Small Enterprise Facilitation Council

Filing a Section 18 reference

An Udyam-registered Micro or Small Enterprise supplier can file a reference under Section 18 of the MSMED Act before the MSEFC of the state where the supplier is located, in respect of any amount due under Section 15 read with Section 16 of the Act. The reference must be accompanied by the Udyam Registration Certificate, copies of the disputed invoices and supporting purchase orders or contracts, evidence of acceptance of the supply, and the supplier's computation of principal and Section 16 interest as of the date of reference. The Council issues notice to the buyer, attempts conciliation within ninety days, and on failure of conciliation proceeds to arbitration. The arbitral award is enforceable as a decree of the civil court under Section 36 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act.

Pre-deposit requirement on appeal

Section 19 of the MSMED Act creates a strong supplier-friendly enforcement design by requiring the buyer to deposit seventy-five per cent of the award amount before filing any application to set aside the MSEFC award under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act. The seventy-five per cent pre-deposit is a non-negotiable jurisdictional pre-condition, and several Supreme Court decisions including Goodyear India v. Norton Intech Rubbers and Tirupati Steels v. Shubh Industrial Component have confirmed that the High Court has no discretion to waive or reduce it. The provision has been a material deterrent against frivolous buyer-side challenges and has accelerated supplier recoveries through the MSEFC mechanism.

MSME Samadhaan portal

To digitise the Section 18 reference process, the Ministry of MSME launched the MSME Samadhaan portal at samadhaan.msme.gov.in. The portal allows Udyam-registered suppliers to file delayed-payment references online, with PAN- and Udyam-based authentication, automatic state-mapping to the appropriate MSEFC, document-upload functionality and case-tracking. The portal aggregates pendency data across all state MSEFCs and publishes statistics on cases filed, conciliated, awarded and challenged. The Ministry uses the portal as a transparency and accountability mechanism, and the U.K. Sinha Committee Report 2019 had specifically recommended such digitisation as a confidence-building measure for MSE participation in formal dispute-resolution channels.

Section 16 of the MSMED Act and interest on delayed payment

Computation methodology

Section 16 of the MSMED Act provides that interest on delayed payment to an MSE supplier is computed at three times the bank rate notified by the Reserve Bank of India. The bank rate is published by the RBI in its Monetary Policy resolutions and is currently in the range of 6.5 per cent to 7 per cent, making the effective Section 16 interest rate approximately 19.5 per cent to 21 per cent per annum. Critically, the interest is compounded with monthly rests rather than simple-interest, which materially increases the time-value of the claim. The interest runs from the day immediately following the Section 15 deadline (typically forty-six days from acceptance) until the date of actual payment, irrespective of any contractual provision to the contrary.

Non-deductibility for the buyer

Section 23 of the MSMED Act bars the buyer from claiming Section 16 interest as a deduction in computing income chargeable to tax under the Income Tax Act 1961. This is a stand-alone disallowance that operates independently of the broader Section 43B(h) regime and applies irrespective of whether the buyer eventually pays the interest. The provision was tested and upheld in Tata Steel Ltd v. CIT and several subsequent High Court decisions, on the rationale that the disallowance is part of the supplier-protective regime under the MSMED Act and not in conflict with any provision of the Income Tax Act. Practitioners advising corporate buyers should accordingly treat Section 16 interest as a permanently disallowed expenditure for tax purposes.

Interaction with contract clauses

It is common for procurement contracts between corporate buyers and MSE suppliers to specify a payment period of sixty days or ninety days, on the basis of the buyer's standard payment-terms policy. Section 15 of the MSMED Act caps the agreed period at forty-five days, and any contract clause specifying a longer period is unenforceable to that extent. Section 16 interest therefore begins to run from day forty-six (or day sixteen in the absence of any written agreement) regardless of the contract clause, and a court or MSEFC will read down the contract clause to the statutory ceiling. This is a non-derogable provision and operates as a public-policy override on freedom of contract.

State-level benefits and incentive schemes

Reimbursement of ISO and quality-certification costs

The Ministry of MSME at the central level and many state governments operate schemes for reimbursement of costs incurred by MSE units in obtaining ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ZED (Zero Defect Zero Effect) and other quality-certifications. The central-government Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme reimburses up to eighty per cent of the cost of consultancy, training and certification, subject to a per-unit ceiling. State schemes layered on top often reimburse the residual twenty per cent, making the certification effectively cost-free for the MSE unit. The Udyam Registration Number is the qualifying credential, and the reimbursement is paid to the unit on production of the certification certificate and proof of payment to the certifying body.

Stamp duty and registration concessions

Most state governments grant stamp-duty concessions on conveyance of land and building for Micro and Small Enterprise units in notified industrial estates, on the basis of the Udyam Registration Number. The concession is typically in the range of fifty per cent to one hundred per cent of the standard stamp duty, subject to a continuing-use undertaking that the property will be used for MSE purposes for a minimum period (typically five to ten years). Several states extend the concession to lease deeds and mortgage deeds executed in favour of CGTMSE-cover-participating lenders. The Udyam Registration is the qualifying credential, and the state-level Industries Department typically administers the concession through a notification under the relevant Stamp Act.

Electricity tariff rebate

State electricity utilities typically offer concessional industrial-tariff slabs for Udyam-registered Micro and Small Enterprise units. The concession may take the form of a lower tariff rate, exemption from electricity duty, or a fixed-charge waiver. The administering body is the state electricity regulatory commission, which periodically issues tariff orders specifying the slabs. To access the concession, the consumer must furnish the Udyam Registration Certificate to the utility at the time of new-connection application or tariff-revision review, and the connection's tariff category is updated accordingly. The concession reduces the per-unit power cost meaningfully and is an important consideration in the location-choice decision for power-intensive MSE units.

Aadhaar-PAN-GST trinity blocks proprietor registration

Trader category brought under Udyam from 02-07-2021

Udyam used for IT exemption claim under Section 80JJAA

Udyam migration deadline of 31-12-2021 deemed non-fatal

Other Services in Maduravoyal-Vanagaram Road, Chennai

What Maduravoyal-Vanagaram Road Clients Say