Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) form an important component of the Indian Economy and contribute significantly to the country’s GDP, exports, industrial output, employment generation etc.  During the past few years, the said Sector has been facing constraints on several fronts.  In this regard, an MSME outreach initiative was launched by the Prime Minister on 2nd November, 2018 to provide access to credit, access to market, technology up-gradation, Ease of doing Business and a sense of security for employees of MSMEs.  Twelve announcements were made to address each of these 5 categories:

In order to take the initiative further, it has been decided by the Government of India to continue to consolidate gains of the Outreach Campaign. In an Official Communication to the  Chairman, SBI and  MDs & CEOs of all Public Sector Banks (PSBs), it is therefore, requested that a CGM/GM level officer may be specifically designated to do an in-depth analysis of the progress made and issues in availability of credit, still being faced by the MSMEs.  While doing the analysis and corrective action thereof, the nodal GM may, inter alia, collect stepwise information on the following:-

1)         Details of MSMEs who are taking credit from the bank

2)         Details of MSME accounts that are NPA

3)         Details of MSME accounts where restructuring/ resolution has been done as per RBI circular dated 1st January, 2019

4)         Details of new MSMEs covered during the campaign

5)         Details of MSMEs still uncovered

A Proforma for submitting Weekly Reports to Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance is being sent separately to these PSBs. The campaign will be supervised by ED in-charge of MSME Financing.

The Heads of all PSBs have been also asked that all sincere efforts should be made so that during the process of formalisation, the MSMEs may not suffer in want of credit which should be available to them as per the extant guidelines.

MSME credit access: banks must appoint senior nodal officers and report weekly to ensure continued lending during formalisation. Government directive requires public sector banks to appoint a CGM/GM-level nodal officer to analyse MSME credit availability and collect detailed data on credit-taking MSMEs, MSME NPAs, accounts restructured per the RBI circular, newly covered MSMEs, and uncovered MSMEs; weekly reports must be submitted to the Department of Financial Services and the campaign will be supervised by the Executive Director in charge of MSME Financing, while banks must ensure MSMEs are not denied credit during formalisation in accordance with extant guidelines.