Financial Express
- Jul 25

Nearly 25,000 MSMEs shut since Covid; units closed in FY23 more than doubles from previous fiscal

MSME Closures: The number of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) shut or closed during the financial year 2022-23 has more than doubled from the previous fiscal, according to the government data. During FY23, 13,290 Udyam-registered MSMEs were closed, up 113 per cent from 6,222 MSMEs closed during FY22, as per the data shared by Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, Minister of State in the MSME Ministry in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The number had shot up drastically post Covid from only 175 units closed during July-March FY21.

In the current financial year (till July 18), 5,152 units were closed, taking the total tally of closed MSMEs since July 2020 to 24,839 while 19,687 were shut till FY23.

Moreover, the number of MSMEs closed between July 2021 and March 2023 was 19,248 and the number of people employed in those MSMEs was 1,32,205 as of July 13, 2023. However, during the same period, 45,99,944 new MSMEs were incorporated and registered on the Udyam portal with employment of 2,89,35,351 (2.89 crore).