MUMBAI: NPCI Bharat BillPay has proposed a centralised digital infrastructure to connect invoices, payments, reconciliation and financing, to fix the biggest constraints faced by MSMEs – the difficulty of turning sales into cash and cash flows into credit. The system could help address the MSME sector’s Rs 60 lakh crore formal credit gap, while reducing the friction involved in collecting and matching payments.The proposed infrastructure would digitise the order-to-cash cycle through standardised APIs and automate reconciliation across more than 20 crore monthly GST e-invoices. Buyer-confirmed invoices could become financeable records, allowing lenders to assess borrowers on the strength of their cash flows rather than relying only on collateral. A common information layer could also reduce the mismatches that contribute to delays in MSME receivables.According to a report by NPCI Bharat BillPay and Bain & Company, formal credit of around Rs 34 lakh crore meets only part of an estimated Rs 92 lakh crore demand for MSME debt, leaving a gap of around Rs 60 lakh crore. The shortage is greatest among smaller enterprises, where formal channels meet only 30% to 40% of debt demand.
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