Indian Bank partners with IIT Bombay to offer up to Rs 50 crore working capital loans to MSMEs, startups

Credit and Finance for MSMEs: As per the MoU, SINE would identify MSMEs and startups based on their credentials and past experience and will refer the list of such members who require financial assistance to the bank.

Credit and Finance for MSMEs: Chennai-based Indian Bank on Monday said it entered a memorandum of understanding with the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE), IIT Bombay for extending credit support facility to MSMEs and startups. As per the MoU, SINE would identify MSMEs and startups based on their credentials and past experience and will refer the list of such members who require financial assistance to the bank. The initiative is a part of Indian Bank’s scheme for MSMEs and startups to realize their research efforts on the back of financial support and backed by incubation facility from SINE. The bank said it will offer loans up to Rs 50 crores for working capital requirements of businesses or purchase of machinery, equipment, etc.

“SINE, IIT Bombay is the forerunner in setting up joint R&D with industries and supporting start-up incubation. SINE, IIT Bombay provides support to the MSME sector by providing joint research and development arrangements and technical and financial support for incubation and acceleration of high-end technology products,” the bank said in a statement. Indian Bank had earlier MSME Prerana programme to support MSME entrepreneurs through skill development and capacity building workshops in local languages. Online training sessions for MSMEs are conducted under the scheme to train businesses in terms of accounting.

Indian Bank had reported a 220 per cent jump in its net profit to Rs 1,182 crore in Q1FY22 in comparison to Rs 369 crore in the year-ago period. Its asset quality had also improved with a decline in gross non-performing assets (GNPA) by 121 bps to 9.69 per cent from 10.9 per cent. The net NPA ratio for the bank was 3.47 per cent, down 29 bps from 3.76 per cent in June 2020 ended quarter.

Overall, gross bank credit deployed to micro and small enterprises (MSEs) had continued to contract in May – for the straight second month in FY22. The outstanding as of May 2021 stood at Rs 10.27 lakh crore, registering a negative 3.6 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth from Rs 10.65 lakh crore as of May 2020, latest data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed. The negative YoY growth had further increased from minus 2.2 per cent in April 2021 that followed the lowest growth of 2.5 per cent recorded in March 2021 since its previous deepest plunge to 1.5 per cent in May 2020.