419: Massive Losses, Unpaid Wages: How Lockdown is Hitting MSMEs

Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Nitin Gadkari said there's a dual war at hand — the pandemic and the economic crisis. And While the government firefights the pandemic with lockdowns and sealing, the economy continues to be ravaged with impending threats of massive job losses and unemployment, especially in the MSME sector that accounts for the jobs of roughly 11 crore people. In the government's own words, the MSMEs or the micro small and medium enterprises have taken a “big blow” in this pandemic. But what steps have the government taken so far for the MSME sector? And what are their expectations so that the job losses can be minimalised? Tune in to The Big Story! Producer and Host: Shorbori Purkayastha Editor: Shelly Walia References: Covid-19: Rescuing The MSME Sector (https://www.bloombergquint.com/coronavirus-outbreak/covid-19-rescuing-the-msme-sector) Saving India from the ventilator (https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/sme/coronavirus-has-dealt-a-huge-blow-to-msme-sector-nitin-gadkari/1924180/) Covid-19 crisis is choking India’s MSME sector. Business won’t pick up even after lockdown (https://theprint.in/opinion/covid-19-crisis-is-choking-indias-msme-sector-business-wont-pick-up-even-after-lockdown/395849/) Unemployment rate over 23% (https://www.cmie.com/kommon/bin/sr.php?kall=warticle&dt=2020-04-07%2008:26:04&msec=770) Music: Big Bang Fuzz Listen to The Big Story podcast on: Apple: https://apple.co/2AYdLIl (https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fapple.co%2F2AYdLIl&redir_token=G9sQMbbppKv-LEFD29gDyTmPMzt8MTU3MTM4MDU5NkAxNTcxMjk0MTk2&v=xkpX1V6aUFo&event=video_description) Saavn: http://bit.ly/2oix78C (https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F2oix78C&redir_token=G9sQMbbppKv-LEFD29gDyTmPMzt8MTU3MTM4MDU5NkAxNTcxMjk0MTk2&v=xkpX1V6aUFo&event=video_description) Google Podcasts: http://bit.ly/2ntMV7S (https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F2ntMV7S&redir_token=G9sQMbbppKv-LEFD29gDyTmPMzt8MTU3MTM4MDU5NkAxNTcxMjk0MTk2&v=xkpX1V6aUFo&event=video