Purchase of goods and/or services by government departments and ministries from micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in the financial year 2023-24 saw a marginal jump. According to the official data, central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) made procurement worth Rs 77,525 crore in FY25, an increase of 3.7 per cent from Rs 74,728 crore in FY24.
However, the share of procurement from MSEs out of total goods purchased by the government dropped slightly. While the share remained above the mandatory target of a minimum 25 per cent annually, it declined to 42.5 per cent in FY25 from 43.7 per cent in FY24, data from the public procurement monitoring portal MSME Sambandh showed.
The Public Procurement Policy for MSEs by the MSME Ministry targets an overall procurement of minimum 25 per cent of total annual purchases of products produced or services rendered by MSEs by the central ministries, government departments and CPSEs.
The policy has also specified a sub target of 4 per cent procurement of goods and services from MSEs owned by SC/ ST entrepreneurs and 3 per cent from MSEs owned by women entrepreneurs.
The overall government procurement in FY25 stood at Rs 1.82 lakh crore in comparison to Rs 1.70 lakh crore in FY24.
The number of MSEs selling goods and services to the government also dropped to 2.16 lakh in FY25 from 2.58 lakh in the preceding fiscal.
In contrast, the share of procurement from SC/ST and women entrepreneurs improved. According to the data, the value of goods and services purchased from SC/ST entrepreneurs increased from Rs 1,761 crore with a 1.03 per cent share in total MSE procurement in FY24 to Rs 2,727 crore with a 1.50 per cent share in FY25.
Similarly, the procurement from women entrepreneurs increased from Rs 3,153 crore with a 1.84 per cent share in FY24 to Rs 4,463 crore with a 2.45 per cent share in FY25.
The top procurers of MSE goods and services in FY25 were the petroleum ministry with Rs 27,072 crore worth of procurement, followed by Rs 10,135 crore purchases by the defence ministry, Rs 9,476 crore by the power ministry, Rs 7,734 crore by the coal ministry, Rs 5,821 crore by the steel ministry, and others.