Demonetisation may have put a question mark on the government plans for roll-out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 1 next year, but it has whetted the desire of hundreds of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), particularly manufacturing units in the informal sector, to move to the formal sector with its rules and regulations, specifically labour and tax payout.
A direct collateral of demonetisation and the low cash supply scenario, has been thousands of workers in the informal sector being let off as hundreds of units in the sector have downed the shutters, albeit temporarily. Anil Bhardwaj of the Federation of Indian Micro & Small and Medium Enterprises (FISME) clarifies, “There have been no layoffs but as many of the units dealing only in cash transactions have temporarily shut down operations, the workers have been sent away. Majority of the workers, almost 70-80 per cent, in these units are daily wagers.”
