If you have gone looking for MSME Samadhaan, the free government portal for chasing a late payment, you may have found a wall: it stopped accepting new delayed-payment filings in October 2025. Do not panic. The portal moved, but the law behind it, the part that actually makes a brand pay, did not go anywhere. Here is the honest, current picture.
What actually changed
Samadhaan was the online window where a registered small enterprise could file a delayed-payment case against a buyer, free and without a lawyer. New filings through that old window closed in late 2025, with cases moving to the government's newer MSME online dispute resolution (ODR) system. The mechanism for filing changed; the rights you file on are exactly the same. This is information for creators, not legal advice, and the exact portal steps are worth confirming as the transition settles.
The law that still works entirely for you
The leverage was never the portal. It is the MSMED Act, and it still stands:
- Register free as an MSME on the official Udyam portal, using your Aadhaar and PAN. It takes about ten minutes.
- Section 15 caps the credit period a buyer can take at 45 days from acceptance of your work.
- Section 16 makes a late buyer owe interest at three times the RBI bank rate, compounded monthly, by operation of law.
- Section 43B(h) of the Income-tax Act means the buyer cannot claim your unpaid bill as a deduction until they actually pay you, which their own auditor has to flag.
One honest caveat: courts have applied the strongest protection cleanly to deals made after you register. So registering today arms every future deal beyond doubt. Our full guide to the 45-day rule walks through this.
Before any portal, climb the ladder
Most late payments are process, not malice: a purchase order stuck in approval, a finance cycle that runs 60 days. The money usually arrives long before any formal filing, if you escalate calmly and in writing. A clear dated reminder, then an escalation to finance, then a demand letter that cites the sections above with a running interest figure, clears the large majority of cases. We lay out each rung in the escalation ladder.
If it does go formal in 2026
If the ladder runs out, a registered creator can still take the delayed-payment route through the new ODR system, and a buyer must deposit 75% of any award just to challenge it, which is why the filing alone often triggers payment. For larger amounts, an hour with a lawyer is money well spent. Know the trade-off honestly: a formal case usually ends that working relationship, so it is a rung you choose on purpose, not a reflex.
What never to do
Do not post a public call-out before the formal remedies are exhausted, do not make threats of any kind, and never tie a demand for money to a threat to publish, which walks straight into extortion territory. A police complaint for what is a civil debt tends to get quashed anyway. Your real leverage is the law and a clean paper trail, and it is more than enough.
Register now, not the week you get stiffed
The single most useful move is also the most boring: register on Udyam today, while nobody owes you a rupee. The protection is strongest for deals made after you register, so every day you delay is a day of future deals left unarmed. It is free, it takes about ten minutes with your Aadhaar and PAN, and it quietly turns your next payment reminder from a plea into a reference to a statutory deadline.
Keep the paper trail that makes recovery easy
Recovery is far simpler when the file is complete before you ever need it. For each deal, keep the agreement or the DM where the brand said yes, your invoice, some proof the work was delivered and accepted, the TDS certificate (Form 16A), and your 26AS showing the deduction. That last one is quietly powerful: a TDS entry is the brand admitting, in a government record, that the deal and the debt are real. In a dispute, that is evidence they handed you for free.
What to expect if you do file
A delayed-payment claim is a resolution process, not a dramatic courtroom case. It usually begins with conciliation, an attempt to settle, and moves to arbitration only if that fails. It is designed to be usable without a lawyer for smaller sums, though for a large amount a lawyer earns their fee. The honest expectation is that most of the value comes from being clearly willing and able to file at all: a buyer who realises you know the process, and that challenging an award means depositing 75% of it, usually finds the money.
Creator Kamai's Get Paid tool runs this from your own records: it drafts the reminders, generates the demand letter with the right legal paragraphs, keeps the interest figure current, and points you to the route that is actually open right now rather than a portal that has closed. Information and drafts, not legal advice.