The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday set up an expert committee, headed by former Sebi chairman UK Sinha to propose long-term solutions for the economic and financial sustainability of the MSME sector.

The committee will review the current institutional framework in place to support the MSME sector and study the impact of the recent economic reforms on the sector and identify the structural problems affecting its growth.

It will also examine the factors affecting the timely and adequate availability of finance to the sector, and study the global best practices with respect to MSMEs and recommend its adoption in India.

The committee will have Ram Mohan Mishra, additional secretary, Development Commissioner, MSME; Pankaj Jain, joint secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance; PK Gupta, managing director, SBI; Anup Bagchi, executive director, ICICI Bank; Abhiman Das, professor, IIM-Ahmedabad; Sharad Sharma, co-founder, iSPIRT Foundation and Bindu Ananth Chair, Dvara Trust.

The report of the panel will be submitted by the end of June 2019.

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) contribute significantly to employment, entrepreneurship and growth in the economy.

Yesterday, the RBI issued norms for restructuring loans defaulted by MSMEs. The RBI permitted a one-time restructuring of existing loans to MSMEs that are in default but 'standard" as on January 1, 2019, the central bank said in a statement.

To be eligible for the scheme, the aggregate exposure, including non-fund based facilities of banks and NBFCs, to a borrower should not exceed Rs 25 crore as on January 1, 2019. The restructuring has to be implemented by March 31, 2020.

First Published:Jan 2, 2019 7:38 PM IST