Going by the estimates, almost 98% of the Asian businesses are run by the MSMEs and the region provides two out of three private sector jobs. In a country of the size of India with a population of over 1400 million, the MSMEs sector's role is vital in the economic growth with 6.3 crore units with a sizeable share in the GDP.

The fact is that MSMEs are the pipelines to the large industries which cannot survive without the back up of MSMEs which are their ancillary units.

Governments come and go, attractive schemes are announced yet little headway is made by the vital sector. In the absence of a strong implementation network the state of the sector remains in the doldrums.

 Almost 50 per cent of the total MSMEs operate in the country's rural areas and provide 45 per cent of total employment. What is intriguing is the fact that the micro enterprises account for 97 per cent of total employment in MSME sector. Despite the micro units' decisive role, the sector is suffering with a myriad of challenges. The result is that the Micro entities fail to graduate into small or medium bracket.

The micro sector is plagued by a score of challenges like credit flow, technology adoption, delayed payments, lack of infrastructure etc. The situation is worst as a majority of them yet languish in the informal, unorganised sector. There has been no realistic effort to convince them to join the mainstream and derive the benefits. The incentives announced by the government only work to enslave the micro enterprises rather than making a robust ecosystem for them to grow and flourish.

Delayed payments are another serious problem faced by a large number of MSMEs. The Government needs to either strengthen their system or devise some sort of mechanism which can be outsourced. The existing system of filing complaints for delayed payments in the ministry is not foolproof as the entrepreneurs run the risk of losing their goodwill and denial of repeat orders. There should be a strict regulation for the large enterprises to place on their respective websites a comprehensive statement of bills received and payments made. Such a statement must be updated every month.

The present economic ecosystem is fast changing and the MSMEs sector badly needs handholding to keep pace with the times. The axiom 'Perform or Perish' calls for government to support the sagging sector on all fronts if we have to realise the dream of the 5 trillion economy.