SME Times News Bureau | 11 Feb, 2012
The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), which finances the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector, Friday said it might clock an year-on-year credit growth of 21 percent by this fiscal-end.

"We had targeted 20 percent year-on-year credit growth for this fiscal for MSME sector. We are working towards achieving this," SIDBI Executive Director N. Raman told reporters here on the sidelines of a programme organised by industry lobby CII in Kolkata.

Raman said in the financial year the bank might achieve the credit growth of 21 percent, lower than that of last fiscal.

"Last (fiscal) year we achieved more than 25 percent credit growth…this year is slightly subdued… this year we might achieve the credit growth of 20 percent to 21 percent," he said.

"At end of December (third quarter), we might not come to the 20 percent as yet. But the fourth quarter (Jan-Mar) is always very crucial for the banks… in this period a lot of business happens. We will ensure that at the end of the fiscal we meet the target."

Informing that loan re-payment for the MSME sector was "certainly an issue" this fiscal and the bank was looking into the possibility of loan restructuring, Raman said, "Yes, for the MSME sector per se the amount of NPA is larger than that of the corporates… this year for the sector loan re-payment is certainly an issue. We are looking into restructuring the loans where it is possible… it is an on-going process."

On the bank's current rate of non-performing assets (NPA), the executive director said its gross NPA stood around two percent.

"And net NPA is less than that. We will keep the NPA under control," he added.