ISSUES AND CHALLENGES WITH MSMES OBTAINING FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FROM BANKS DURING COVID-19

The micro, small, and medium-sized business (MSMEs) industry has been acknowledged as the foundation of the economy. The micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sector has been highlighted as one of the economic sectors affected by the COVID-19 pandemic due to the propensity for a lack of business capital resulting from decreasing income, which is consistent with the current drop in people's purchasing power. Due to the government's decision to lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, Indian banks were forced to reduce credit lines to commercial sectors. According to the explanation given above, it can be concluded that COVID-19 has a negative impact on lowering MSMEs' income levels, which in turn decreases MSMEs' capital in India. The modified questionnaire method was used to obtain the necessary information from 110 MSMEs using a convenience sample approach for this study. Descriptive statistics such as frequency counts and percentages were applied to analyze demographic data and research questions, while inferential statistics such as ANOVA and the T-test were also used to evaluate the stated hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The study concluded that enterprises of all sizes, i.e., micro, small, and medium, faced similar challenges while obtaining finance from banks, but tenure of operation was an important factor in obtaining finance. Organizations operating for a longer duration received finance easily and on simple terms, but new organizations faced difficulty obtaining finance during COVID-19. There is also a significant difference in bank type, as availing loans from public-sector banks is quite easy as compared to private-sector banks.

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Keywords: MSMEs, COVID-19, Financial Assistance, Indian Banking Sector, Loans.


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