In short. A good MSME reference format isn't long. It has a short run of facts, a few paragraphs showing you're an eligible micro or small supplier and that this council can hear you, an invoice-wise schedule with acceptance and due dates, a Section 16 interest working, a limitation paragraph and a prayer with figures in it. Indexed annexures back every line. The Samadhaan form only takes the basics. What the council and the buyer actually read is the reference you attach. So draft it before you log in, and draft it so it can become your statement of claim if conciliation fails.
Is this your situation?
- Udyam is done, the invoices are scanned, and you're about to open Samadhaan. You'd rather the claim was drafted properly than just typed into boxes.
- You filed a few months ago with only the invoices attached. Now the council office wants more, and the buyer's lawyer has started asking about acceptance.
- There are 60-odd invoices, three years of part payments and a pile of debit notes. You don't know how to lay it out without it looking like a mess.
- You want the Section 16 interest, not the 18 percent printed on your invoices, and someone has told you to show the working.
- A few invoices go back to 2023. Your Udyam certificate is newer than some of the purchase orders. You can already hear the objection coming.
- The conciliation sittings went nowhere and the council has given you a date to file a statement of claim.
- You supply services, not goods. Your only proof that the client accepted the work is a string of emails saying "ok, noted".
What goes into a reference to the MSME council?
A reference under Section 18(1) of the MSMED Act, 2006 is your written claim. It asks the Micro and Small Enterprises Facilitation Council to settle a dispute about money due under Section 17, which is the price of the goods or services you supplied, with interest under Section 16. The Act gives no form for it. State council rules and the Samadhaan portal tell you what has to be filed. Neither tells you how to make the council believe it.
We draft a reference to answer, in sequence, the questions a council member will ask anyway. Who is the supplier, and is it really micro or small? Why this council? What was supplied, and when did the buyer accept it? How much is unpaid, how did you get to the interest figure, and why isn't any of it time-barred? And what exact order do you want? Each answer sits on a document, indexed and paginated.
It helps to think of the reference as having two lives. At conciliation it's your opening statement. It decides whether the buyer turns up with an offer or with a list of excuses. If conciliation fails, it becomes the base of your statement of claim in the council's arbitration, where every line has to be proved. Get it right once. You won't enjoy redrafting it under a deadline.
MSME reference format: the portal form and the written reference
Most suppliers now file on the MSME Samadhaan portal. It pulls details from your Udyam registration and sends the application to the council for your location. The form asks for the buyer's name and contact details and the invoices and amounts, and it lets you upload documents. We've written up the portal itself, from login to upload, in our post on filing an MSME Samadhaan complaint online.
But the form isn't a pleading. No MSME reference format on the portal does the job of a written claim. There's no room to explain acceptance, deductions, part payments or limitation properly. So we treat the written reference, uploaded as the main document, as the actual claim. Some councils also take or ask for a hard copy. Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana don't all do it the same way, so check what your council wants right now.
Write plainly. The people reading it may be officers of the industries department, someone from an industry association or a bank, and one law member. Numbered paragraphs with dates and amounts work. Long legal recitals don't. For an ordinary supply claim, eight to fifteen pages plus annexures is usually plenty.
The parts of a well-drafted MSME reference, in order
- Cause title. Before the Micro and Small Enterprises Facilitation Council for your district or region. You're the claimant, the buyer is the respondent. Use full legal names, registered addresses, CIN or GSTIN, email and phone, not the trade name on the letterhead.
- Introduction. Two or three lines. This is a reference under Section 18(1) to recover the principal with interest under Sections 16 and 17, and here's the total claimed as on a given date.
- Eligibility. Your Udyam number, the date you first registered, your category (micro or small), and what the business does. That's what shows you're a supplier under Section 2(n).
- Jurisdiction. Where your place of business is and that it falls in this council's area, under Section 18(4). Add one line that Section 18 applies whatever the arbitration clause says, as held in Mahakali Foods (2022).
- Facts. The contract or purchase orders, what you supplied, delivery and acceptance, the agreed payment period, what's been paid, and the buyer's failure to pay the rest. Date order, always.
- Claim schedule and interest. Point to the invoice-wise schedule and interest working in the annexures and give the totals in the body.
- Limitation. Why each invoice is inside three years. Where it needs help, name the acknowledgment or part payment that saves it.
- Buyer's objections. If they've already complained in writing about quality or made deductions, answer that briefly and factually.
- Prayer. Exactly what you want ordered, with figures.
- List of documents, verification and authority. An index of annexures, a verification signed by whoever is authorised, and the board resolution or authority letter behind that signature.
Writing the facts so the council gets it in one reading
Tell it as a timeline. Don't argue. Start with when the business relationship began and on what terms: purchase order numbers and dates, or the framework contract, and the payment clause quoted word for word. Then what you supplied and over what period, how it was delivered, and how the buyer accepted it, with annexure references. Then the payments received. Then what's left.
Drop the adjectives. Illegal, malafide, arbitrary. They add nothing in front of a council and they put the buyer's back up at conciliation. Compare that with one plain sentence: "Between April 2025 and January 2026 the claimant supplied 46 consignments against 12 purchase orders, all received at the respondent's Manesar plant and acknowledged by signed goods receipt notes (Annexure C-4)." That sentence does more than a page of complaint.
When Advocate B.K. Singh goes through a draft reference, the paragraph he reads hardest is the one on acceptance. Section 15 ties the due date to the day of acceptance or deemed acceptance. Every figure after that hangs on it. If the buyer didn't object in writing within 15 days of delivery, say exactly that and claim deemed acceptance. If it did object and you sorted out the problem, give the date you did.
Short paragraphs here. They're easier to check.
MSME claim drafting: the columns your invoice schedule needs
| Column | What goes in it | Where it comes from | Where people go wrong |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invoice number and date | One row per invoice, in date order | Tax invoice | Lumping invoices together by month, so nobody can see which ones are old |
| PO or contract reference | The purchase order or work order behind that invoice | PO, work order, contract | Leaving it blank, which lets the buyer deny the order itself |
| Invoice amount | Gross amount with GST, plus the taxable value shown separately | Tax invoice, GST return | Claiming GST the buyer already paid directly, or has disputed |
| Date of delivery or completion | The day goods reached the buyer or the service was finished | Delivery challan, e-way bill, LR, completion note | Putting the invoice date here instead |
| Date of acceptance | GRN date, sign-off date, or the delivery date if acceptance is deemed | GRN, sign-off email, no objection on record | Skipping acceptance altogether |
| Due date under Section 15 | The agreed date, but never more than 45 days from acceptance; 15 days after acceptance if nothing was agreed | PO payment terms | Using the 90 or 120-day credit period from the contract |
| Amount received and date | Every payment against that invoice, TDS included | Bank statement, payment advice, Form 26AS | Forgetting TDS, so the balance looks inflated and the buyer pounces |
| Deductions or debit notes | Each debit note, short payment or penalty, and what you say about it | Buyer's debit notes, letters and emails | Pretending they don't exist |
| Balance principal | Invoice minus payments and any deductions you accept | Your own calculation | Sums that don't add up, which makes the council doubt the rest |
| Interest to date | Section 16 interest from the due date to the claim date | Interest working annexure | Simple interest, or only the contract rate |
Showing the Section 16 interest claim
Under Section 16 the buyer pays compound interest with monthly rests from the due date, at three times the bank rate notified by the Reserve Bank of India. Put one lump-sum interest figure in the reference and you're inviting the buyer to dispute it. The council will ask how you got there. So attach a separate interest sheet, invoice by invoice: principal outstanding, the period, the rate you applied, and the monthly compounding.
Part payments need care. Show how you adjusted them, usually against the oldest invoice first unless the buyer told you otherwise, and how principal and interest moved after each one. The bank rate may also have changed during the period. Councils and tribunals don't agree on whether you apply the rate on the due date or the rate for each stretch of time. Pick a method, say which one, attach the RBI notifications, and use the same method for every invoice.
Late-paid invoices? Claim interest on them in a separate block, because those face a different limitation argument and you don't want them dragging the rest of the claim down with them. Our post on working out MSME delayed payment interest runs through an example. In the body, give the totals and the cut-off date. Then ask in the prayer for further interest at the same rate until you're paid.
Eligibility and jurisdiction: answer the objection before it's raised
At the first sitting, buyers raise eligibility and jurisdiction more than anything else. Put the answers in the reference. For eligibility, that means the Udyam number, the date of first registration, the category, and whether you manufacture or provide services. If you had an older Udyog Aadhaar or Entrepreneurs Memorandum, give those details too. They may show you were registered before the contract.
If you registered after some of the purchase orders, say so. Plainly. Spell out which supplies came after registration. Then note that in NBCC (India) Ltd v. State of West Bengal (2025) the Supreme Court held that a reference can't be thrown out merely for want of registration, and referred the conflict with Silpi Industries (2021) to a larger bench. Hiding the date only hands the buyer a credibility point. We've seen it happen.
On jurisdiction, Section 18(4) gives it to the council where the supplier is located. Give the address of the unit that actually made the supplies and show it's in this council's area. If the contract has an exclusive jurisdiction clause or an arbitration clause, one line saying Section 18 overrides it is enough. Our post on which council has jurisdiction deals with suppliers who work from more than one location.
The limitation paragraph, and the defences the buyer has already raised
If every invoice fell due within the last three years, one sentence will do. If some are older, list the acknowledgments and part payments that keep each one alive, with dates and annexure numbers. In Sonali Power Equipments v. Maharashtra State Electricity Board (2025) the Supreme Court held that limitation doesn't apply to conciliation but does apply once the matter goes to arbitration. A reference that skips limitation is storing up trouble. Our post on the time limit for an MSME delayed payment claim shows how to test each invoice.
Then deal with the defences the buyer has already put in writing. Quality complaints, short supply, delay penalties, debit notes. Answer each one in a short paragraph with the facts and the document. If you accepted some deductions, say so and cut the claim down. A council that sees you've been fair about the buyer's points tends to lean on the buyer to settle.
Don't argue defences nobody has raised. It makes the reference longer. Worse, it gives the buyer ideas.
Drafting the prayer: what you ask the council to order
Whatever you write in the prayer is what ends up in the operative part of an award. So be exact. Ask for a stated principal, a stated amount of Section 16 interest calculated up to a stated date, further Section 16 interest on the principal from that date until actual payment, and the costs of the proceedings. If you have a figure you'd settle at, keep it out of the prayer. That's for the conciliation sittings.
Keep claims that aren't MSME dues separate, or leave them out. The council deals with amounts due under Section 17. Damages, loss of profit, price escalation the buyer never agreed to, or return of a security deposit will all draw objections. If they're big, think about a separate claim. Mixed into the prayer, they can slow down the whole reference.
If the buyer is quietly moving assets out, the reference won't stop it. The council can't grant interim relief during conciliation. A commercial suit with an attachment application may suit you better, and we weigh the two in our post comparing the MSME council and a commercial court.
Drafting the reference, step by step
This is the order we work in on a typical supply claim. The first three steps eat most of the time. They're also where the case is really decided.
Reconcile your account with the buyer's
Put your ledger next to the buyer's payment advices, TDS entries and any balance confirmation. Sort out the differences before you write a word, because at conciliation the buyer's first move is nearly always a different number.
Build the invoice schedule and interest working
Use the columns in the table above, then prepare the Section 16 interest sheet. Check every total twice. Then hand it to someone who didn't make it and ask them to test five random rows against the documents.
Index and paginate the annexures
Put the documents in the order the facts mention them and number them as annexures. With a proper index and page numbers, a council member can find the GRN for invoice 37 in seconds. Without one, they won't bother.
Write the body
Draft the parts in the order listed earlier. Keep facts in one place and the legal basis in another, and give every factual statement an annexure number so nothing floats.
Check eligibility, jurisdiction and limitation
Read the draft as if you were the buyer's lawyer. Mark every spot where you'd object. Then make sure the text already answers each one.
Sign, verify and file
The authorised person signs and verifies. Upload the reference as the main document on Samadhaan with the annexures, save the acknowledgment, and put follow-up dates in your diary. What happens after that is in our post on checking Samadhaan case status.
Annexures to attach, in this order
Who you are and who's signing
- Udyam registration certificate, plus any older Udyog Aadhaar or EM-II
- Board resolution, partnership authority or proprietor's declaration for whoever signs
- Your GST registration certificate
The contract
- Purchase orders, work orders or the framework contract
- The rate contract or accepted quotation, if the PO refers to it
- Emails that changed quantities, prices or payment terms along the way
What you supplied and how it was accepted
- Tax invoices, in date order
- Delivery challans, e-way bills and the transporter's receipts
- Goods receipt notes, inspection reports or service sign-offs
The money
- The buyer's ledger account from your books
- Bank statements with the buyer's payments marked
- Signed balance confirmations and Form 26AS extracts showing TDS
Letters, emails and the numbers
- Your reminders, the legal notice if you sent one, and whatever the buyer replied
- Emails where the buyer admitted the dues or complained about something
- The invoice-wise schedule and the Section 16 interest working
- A certificate under Section 63 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 for the emails and electronic ledgers
From reference to statement of claim if conciliation fails
If conciliation ends without a settlement, the council either takes up arbitration itself or sends the dispute to an institution under Section 18(3). The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 then applies as though there were an arbitration agreement. The council or tribunal will usually ask for a statement of claim under Section 23 of the Arbitration Act. The buyer then files its defence and any counter claim.
A well-drafted reference converts without much pain. The facts, schedules and annexures all carry over. What you add is the legal frame: the issues the tribunal has to decide, the legal basis for each claim under Sections 15 to 17, and a fuller answer to whatever the buyer argued at conciliation. You may also file an affidavit from the person who handled the account, proving the documents.
Watch what you rely on from the sittings. Under Section 81 of the Arbitration Act, views and proposals made during conciliation can't be used in later arbitral or court proceedings. That cuts both ways. Don't build your statement of claim around an offer the buyer floated across the table.
Time and costs from drafting to the first hearing
| Stage | How long it usually takes | Costs to budget for (no lawyer fees shown) |
|---|---|---|
| Reconciling accounts and pulling documents together | One to three weeks, depending on how many invoices there are | Your own staff time; certified copies of any old records |
| Preparing the schedule and interest working | A few days to two weeks | Staff or accountant's time |
| Drafting and reviewing the reference | One to two weeks | Typing and scanning |
| Filing on Samadhaan | A day | No ad valorem court fee; check whether your state council charges anything |
| Scrutiny and registration by the council | A few weeks to two months | Nil |
| Notice and the first conciliation sitting | Usually one to three months after registration | Courier and photocopies |
| Statement of claim if conciliation fails | Whatever the council or tribunal directs, often a few weeks | Institutional fees if the case goes to a centre |
Drafting mistakes that weaken MSME references
- Attaching invoices and nothing else. An invoice proves you asked for money. It doesn't prove you supplied anything, or that it was accepted. Without challans, GRNs or sign-offs, the buyer can simply deny the supply and the council has nothing to check.
- Counting from the contract's credit period. A 90-day credit term in the PO doesn't push the Section 15 due date past 45 days from acceptance. Start interest from day 90 and you understate the claim. Start it from the invoice date and you overstate it.
- Ignoring TDS and debit notes. The buyer will bring them to the first sitting. If your schedule hasn't dealt with them, it looks careless.
- Hiding the registration date. The first thing Advocate B.K. Singh checks in any draft is the Udyam date against the earliest purchase order. If the buyer spots a gap you haven't explained, the whole reference starts to look shifty.
- Overclaiming. Tack disputed extras, damages and escalation onto a clean invoice claim and you've handed the buyer a reason to fight all of it.
- A vague prayer. "Direct the respondent to pay all dues with interest" can't be turned into a clear award. Give figures. Give dates.
- No authority document. A reference signed by a manager with no board resolution or authority letter behind it is asking for a preliminary objection. Our post on why MSME claims get rejected covers the other common ones.
An invented example: a Gurugram testing firm drafts its reference
This one is made up, to show the drafting. A software testing firm in Udyog Vihar, Gurugram, registered as a micro enterprise in 2022, tests apps for a fintech company under a 2023 master services agreement. It bills monthly, payable in 60 days. By August 2026, eleven monthly invoices adding up to Rs 27.5 lakh are unpaid. The client has also raised two debit notes for missed deadlines.
The firm's first draft just listed the invoices and asked for Rs 27.5 lakh plus 18 percent interest. The revised reference changes five things. It shows each invoice next to the date the client's project manager signed off the monthly test report by email, and treats that as acceptance. It moves the due date to 45 days from sign-off instead of 60 days from the invoice. It takes off the TDS the client has already deposited. It handles the two debit notes in one short paragraph. It accepts the Rs 40,000 one, where a deadline really was missed, and disputes the other using the client's own email extending that deadline. And it drops the 18 percent in favour of Section 16 interest, invoice by invoice.
The reference also says the Udyam registration came before the 2023 agreement, invokes Section 18(4) for the Haryana council that covers Gurugram, and points out that the agreement's Bengaluru arbitration clause is overridden by Section 18. The prayer asks for a stated principal, stated interest to 31 August 2026, further Section 16 interest until payment, and costs. So at the first sitting, the client's representative has no arithmetic to argue about. Only a decision to make. Service providers with similar questions can read whether a service provider MSME can use the council.
Who signs the reference, and where it's filed
The proprietor, a partner, or a director or officer authorised by a board resolution signs and verifies the reference. Attach that authority. If someone else handles the account day to day, name them as the contact person. They may end up giving evidence if it goes to arbitration.
You file before the council for the supplier's location. In Delhi NCR that means the council for your area in Delhi, the one covering Gautam Buddh Nagar or Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, or the one covering Gurugram or Faridabad in Haryana. Samadhaan routes the application by the address on your Udyam registration. If you've moved premises and never updated it, fix that first.
Sending a legal notice before filing is often sensible. We'd usually send one. But keep it consistent with the reference: same invoices, same figures, same interest method. A notice claiming one number and a reference claiming another is an easy point for the buyer. The commercialcourtlawyer.com page on the legal notice for recovery sets out what that notice should say. If you're the buyer and a reference has just landed on your desk, see our post on how to respond if an MSME supplier files a case.
Before you file: one last read
Whatever MSME reference format you end up using, read the final draft as a council member who's never heard of either company. Within two pages, can you tell who supplied what, when it was accepted, what's unpaid and what's being asked? Do the totals in the body match the schedule? Does the schedule match the annexures? Is every annexure mentioned in the text, and is every statement in the text backed by one?
Then read it again as the buyer's lawyer. Registration date, jurisdiction, limitation, debit notes, acceptance. Where would you object? Each of those should already have its answer. The papers these claims usually need are listed in our post on the documents needed for an MSME delayed payment case.
If you'd like your draft reference, invoice schedule and interest working checked before filing, send your papers to Advocate B.K. Singh's team through the contact page.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official format for an MSME council reference?
No. The MSMED Act doesn't prescribe one. Samadhaan has its online form and state council rules may ask for certain details, but the written reference you upload can follow your own structure. In our experience councils act fastest on a clear one: facts, schedules, interest working and a prayer with figures.
Can I file an MSME reference without a lawyer?
Yes. The council doesn't insist on a lawyer and plenty of suppliers file on their own. It's still worth having the reference checked if the amount is large, if you expect the buyer to object on eligibility or limitation, or if the case looks likely to end up in arbitration.
Should my reference mention the arbitration clause in the contract?
Yes, briefly. Say the contract has one and that Section 18 of the MSMED Act overrides it, as the Supreme Court held in Mahakali Foods (2022). That deals with the objection before the buyer gets to make it.
Can I amend my MSME reference after filing?
Councils usually allow corrections and extra documents, especially before the case goes to arbitration. Once it's in arbitration, amendments to the claim fall under Section 23(3) of the Arbitration Act and can be refused if they come too late. Better to get it right before you file.
How should GST be shown in an MSME claim?
Show the invoice value with GST, and the taxable value and tax separately. If the buyer has paid or held back GST, or is disputing input credit, reflect that in the schedule. Councils usually accept the GST-inclusive invoice amount as the price due.
Do I have to send a legal notice before filing an MSME reference?
The Act doesn't require one. Still, a notice often gets you paid, or at least gets the buyer to state its position on paper, and that helps the reference. Just make sure the notice and the claim you file later say the same thing.
What if the buyer has several units or offices?
Name the legal entity with its registered office as shown on the MCA records. Then mention the unit or office that placed the orders and took the supplies. Send notices to both addresses so nobody can say they weren't served.
Can I claim costs in an MSME reference?
Yes. Ask for the costs of the proceedings in the prayer. Once the case is in arbitration, Section 31A of the Arbitration Act lets the tribunal award costs, and the general rule is that the losing side pays. Keep a record of what you spend.
Advocate B.K. Singh
Founder of B.K. Singh & Associates. MCA, LL.B., LL.M. More than twenty years in practice before the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court, district and commercial courts in Delhi NCR, and tribunals.
This guide explains the law in general terms and is not legal advice. For advice on your own papers, contact the team.