SME Times News Bureau | 25 Jan, 2013
The Ministry of MSME is working towards the creation of an 'India
Inclusive Innovation Fund', to cater to the credit requirements of the bottom of
the pyramid enterprises, among MSMEs, stated Vivek Rae, Secretary, Ministry of
MSME, while inaugurating the Conclave on Credit and Finance for MSMEs,
organised by CII, in New Delhi, Friday.
Rae mentioned that this would be a Rs 5000 crore fund, however to begin with, a
corpus of Rs. 500 crore would be set aside for the fund of which the government
would put in Rs. 100 crore while the balance would be contributed by banks and
financial institutions.
The scheme, which would be operationalised within three months, would take
equity stake in companies at the bottom of the pyramid and promote venture
capital among MSMEs.
Rae expressed concern regarding the
fact, that MSMEs faced financial exclusion from the banking system, despite
detailed guidelines by RBI to banks on disbursal of credit to MSMEs, being in
place. Rae was strongly in favour of increasing the penetration of MSMEs in the
banking system and called for imposing accountability.
Chairing the session on Financial Intermediation for MSMEs - Role of banks and
Rating Agencies, C K Mishra, Joint Secretary, Ministry of MSME reiterated the
commitment of the Ministry of MSME, for facilitating the availability of credit
& finance for MSMEs.
He added that it was hence important that all stakeholders in the MSME domain
share the similar wavelength, and the bankers had to play a very important role
in achieving this. In the present context it is the implementation and
monitoring of the existing guidelines, that shall improve the scenario for the
MSMEs, he mentioned.
In his Keynote Address at the Conclave, N K Maini, Deputy Managing Director,
SIDBI shared that there existed a gap of about Rs 7 trillion for the MSMEs, as
reported by the IFC Report on SME Financing.
Maini mentioned that it will be through both the traditional and non-traditional
modes of finance, the gap could be filled. SIDBI, as the apex financial
institution for the MSMEs was committed to help bridge this gap, he added.
Ravi Tyagi, Head of the SME Project of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was of
the view that SME platform will fulfil the long pending need for rasing Equity
finance, for the SMEs, from Primary Markets. He exhorted CII to work with NSE
and SIDBI towards streamlining guidelines, to enhance the appeal of raising
funds from the Primary markets, by the SMEs.
Earlier, Satish Kaura, Co-Chairman, CII Defence Council and CMD, Samtel Color
Ltd said that CII has been actively working with Reserve Bank of India (RBI),
the Indian Banks Association (IBA), local industry associations, as well as
with the banks. With a view to facilitate timely availability of credit at a
competitive cost and to promote the credit rating among the banks & the
industry, CII will strive to bring the credit rating procedures at acceptable
levels, by all the banks, through active involvement of all stakeholders.