SIDBI joins hands with Google to help MSMEs

The major focus under the programme shall be on enterprises run by women entrepreneurs, with suitable interest rate concession also envisaged for such enterprises.

HYDERABAD: Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), the principal financial institution engaged in the promotion, financing and development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) has entered into a collaboration with Google for having a social impact lending programme with financial assistance up to Rs. 100 lakh at competitive interest rates targeted at micro-enterprises.

This one-of-a-kind programme with Google brings a corpus of USD 15 million (approx. Rs. 110 crore) to micro-enterprises as a crisis response related to COVID-19 to reinvigorate the MSME sector in India.

The collaboration envisages a loan programme targeted at micro-enterprises (having turnover up to Rs. 5 crores), with loan sizes ranging between Rs. 25 lakh to Rs. 1 crore, being implemented by SIDBI. The major focus under the programme shall be on enterprises run by women entrepreneurs, with suitable interest rate concession also envisaged for such enterprises.

Sivasubramanian Ramann, IA&AS, Chairman and Managing Director of SIDBI said, “MSMEs are undoubtedly the lifeblood of the Indian economy serving as catalysts to economic growth and helping usher inequitable growth and social change. In line with SIDBI’s mandate and commitment to the sector to ensure its sustainable growth, we have launched various programs for an emergency response to the sudden advent of COVID19 such as SAFE, SAFE plus scheme, AROG, and SHWAS. Today we feel proud that SIDBI’s efforts in reviving the sector are backed by a strong collaboration with Google, a public-spirited and conscientious partner. This one-of-a-kind program brings a corpus of Rs. 110 crore to small businesses and crisis response related to COVID-19 to reinvigorate the MSME sector in India. This also marks SIDBI’s launch of a paperless journey to its customers from onboarding to the disbursal stage. With renewed hope in making a full and vital economic recovery, we look to this collaboration to enhance our efforts in expanding the sector’s access to credit and are very eager to see the constructive impact that we can achieve together.”

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Speaking about the collaboration, Sanjay Gupta, Vice President & Country Manager, Google India, said, “We have had a longstanding commitment to enable India’s small businesses in leveraging the opportunity provided by digital so that they scale, innovate and reach new customers through a range of tools, services, and products that are especially designed for them. Right at the outset of COVID-19, we launched a series of efforts that responded to the fact that these businesses have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. In joining hands with SIDBI, which has a deep understanding of the growing needs of this large and dispersed ecosystem, we’re pleased to expand our support to these enterprises.”