The ongoing crisis due to the COVID-19 outbreak is beyond doubt going to affect the entire economy, but one of the segments that is likely to hit the most is the MSMEs—a sector which accounts for more than 50% of the country’s GDP. It has brought existential crisis for the country's SMEs and MSMEs. Even with the RBI urging banks to lend more, banks are reluctant and are parking more money with the central bank. One of the reasons could be that banks are wary that loans at this time to MSMEs may turn out to be non-performing given the depth of the crisis.

It is written on the wall that the defaults towards the lenders will certainly take place in the given circumstances and also that the dues at different levels in the supply chain may also remain unpaid, leading to the claims of operational creditors against their clients.

What this in turn means that a lot of MSMEs may be dragged into the IBC process or may voluntarily do so. There is a likelihood that when the IBC process starts after the brief six months pause as implemented by the authorities, there may be a huge number of businesses that may go into insolvency.

In such a situation, how can MSME’s best protect their business, reputation and solvency going forward. Entrepreneur India’s webinar on IBC—The Way Forward will have leading insolvency experts and other business leaders who will share how MSME’s should plan their future course of action as the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code will appear in a new avatar post COVID-19.