: CEAI urges Nitin Gadkari to include Consulting Engg Companies under MSME fold #FinanceIndia #StockMarketNEWS CEAI urges Nitin Gadkari to include Consulting Engg Companies under MSME fold New Delhi,

@StockMarketNEWS Thu 02 Jul, 2020

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CEAI urges Nitin Gadkari to include Consulting Engg Companies under MSME fold #FinanceIndia #StockMarketNEWS
CEAI urges Nitin Gadkari to include Consulting Engg Companies under MSME fold New Delhi, Jul 1 (KNN) After urging centre to change the definition of Indian company, now Consulting Engineers Association of India (CEAI) has urged the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Minister Nitin Gadkari to allow registration of Indian Consulting Engineers Companies under (MSME) category to take advantage initiatives announced for the sector.

This will help INCEs take advantage of slew of initiatives announced for the MSME sector and to compete with multi-National Consulting Companies, CEAI said in a statement on Tuesday.

CEAI President Amitabha Ghoshal said that there are a number of good Indian consulting companies with annual turnover in the range of Rs 250 crore to Rs 400 crore. But these companies are unable to take advantage of the various initiatives announced for the MSME sector.

Due to COVID-19 slowdown, delays in payments by clients, wrong practice of GST deduction/ non-payment adopted by clients and delays in refund of Income Tax, these companies are struggling despite large turnover, Ghoshal noted.

Chairman CEAI Infrastructure Committee, KK Kapila said INCE companies are competing both in India and abroad against MNCE Companies, all of whom have deep pockets, low cost funding, foreign Government backing and international resources.

All tenders with an estimated fee of Rs 200 crore must be restricted for Indian firms only, Kapila asserted.

Kapila said that non-Indian firms should not be allowed to register under the MSME category and draw the benefits actually meant for the Indian entities, which is happening in the current scenario because of the lacunae in registration of the Foreign Firms in India, being treated as Indian firms though they are wholly owned subsidiaries of foreign companies.

Consulting Engineers apex body said there is current practice in most government tenders to have pre-requisites that are too stringent for INCE companies to meet and this results in awarding large consulting assignments to MNCE companies.

Notably, in June, CEAI had urged the government to change the definition of Indian company wherein Indian nationals should have at least 51 per cent stake.

CEAI had said that any company registered in India and paying tax is considered Indian.

There is a need to change the definition of Indian company under the Companies Act by making it mandatory to have a minimum 51 per cent shareholding by Indian nationals or entities, it added.