 "SBI, state bank of india")
The country’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), has floated ‘SME Digital Business Loans’ with the aim of sanctioning loans in 45 minutes.
SBI identified the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) line of business as the focal point for the bank’s growth and profitability over the next five years.
“This innovative product marks a significant leap forward in digitalisation by offering SMEs a digital loan journey with an end-to-end sanction turnaround time of up to 45 minutes,” SBI said in a statement.
The proposition eliminates the need for traditional credit underwriting and lengthy appraisal processes, ushering in a new era of simplicity, speed, and accessibility in MSME lending.
Notably, for loans up to Rs 50 lakh, SBI has waived the requirement for financial statements, relying instead on transaction history and GST returns for appraisal.
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Utilising authentic data footprints from sources such as income tax returns (ITR), GST returns, and bank statements, SBI has developed a data-driven credit assessment engine capable of providing sanction decisions within a remarkable 10 seconds after submitting the required details, without any human intervention, the statement said.
"We are committed to setting a new industry benchmark with SME Digital Business Loans, underscoring our constant efforts to drive innovation in MSME lending,” Dinesh Khara, chairman, SBI, said.
“By leveraging the rich data footprint of MSME units in the ecosystem, we aim to provide the fastest and most intuitive lending process, further solidifying our position as the leading MSME lender in the country," Khara said.
SBI’s outstanding SME book has risen from Rs 2.67 trillion at the end of March 2020 to Rs 4.33 trillion at the end of March 2024. The asset quality of this book has also improved, with gross non-performing assets declining from 9.43 per cent in March 2020 to 3.75 per cent in March 2024.
