Banks have lent Rs 8,500-9,000 crore to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the last few months as a part of the stimulus packages announced by the Union government.
Of Rs 7,000-crore refinance facility extended to the Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi), Rs 4,300 crore have already been released to the commercial banks, Dinesh Rai, secretary in the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, said at an Assocham function here today. Sidbi is a state-run diversified refinancing agency, which lends mainly to the small scale sector.
He said according to the Sidbi stipulation, banks were required to double up the amount released to them. As a result, “About Rs 8,500-9,000 crore has already been released by the banks to MSMEs,” Rai added. The government had given different stimulus packages to the industry, particularly for the export units, MSMEs and commercial vehicles to limit the impact of the global downturn on their performances.
Rai said the government would continue to promote MSMEs, which contribute about 45 per cent of the country’s total industrial production. The ministry is on the verge of finalising a Rs 160-crore scheme for making the sector IT-enabled that gives employment to 42 million people.