SIDBI to rate 720 SMEs by year-end

The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) may complete the rating of 720 small and medium enterprises before 2007-end, a top official of the bank said in Madurai recently.

The process is being undertaken by the Small and Medium Enterprises Rating Agency (SMERA), said R M Malla, Chairman of SIDBI.

In an interaction with reporters, Malla said, SMERA was set up in collaboration with a few banks and was becoming a popular agency in the country as their charges were nominal as compared to the international agencies.

That apart, the individual SMEs SMERA had identified five clusters that include engineering units in Jamshedpur, steel furniture in Nashik, rubber product industries in Kochi and pharmaceutical units in Ahmedabad.

Besides the row, it was in the process of identifying and rating clusters in segments like automobile auxilliary and textile manufacture.

Over 1,000 applications for rating have been processed by SMERA and by 2008 over 3,000 SMEs would be rated. Tamil Nadu stood top with 140 enterprises so far and added he that more number of SMEs in Tamil Nadu would join the select bank.

SIDBI add sign MoU's with about 25 banking and financial institutions to offer loans etc at a concessional rate of interest while rendering financial assistances to these SMEs to upgrade themselves.