To help small businesses tide over the issue of raising finances, specialised financial institution Sidbi today said it will soon be offering loan syndication consultancy to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
"Currently, micro, small and medium enterprises go to consultancies for loan syndication. So we will come out with our own offering which will be transparent and accessible for all," Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) Deputy Managing Director N K Maini told reporters here.
Sidbi will soon be appointing accredited consultants who will help MSMEs. All loan proposals which come through these consultants will be processed at a centralised level and help in arranging finances, he said.
Under the loan syndication system, multiple lenders fund a single company.
"We will tie-up with rating agencies which will help in reducing the fees," he said, adding the beneficiary MSMEs will have to pay up to 2 per cent of the loan amount as fees.
Sidbi will retain a part of the fees as expenses while the rest will go to the different stakeholders, especially the rating agency, Maini said, asserting the prevailing fee structure is higher than what it will be offering.
Asked for a timeline for the launch of the service, he said it should go live in this year.
Apart from this, Sidbi is contemplating the launch of credit facilitation centres which will be located in SME clusters and help resolve any issues with ongoing loans. It plans to have a centre each in 100 SME clusters in the next two months, Maini said.
Both initiatives are a part of Sidbi's move to re-position itself as an organisation which would play a complimentary role to the commercial banks.
