Central Bank of India, U GRO tie up for co-lending to MSMEs

State-run Central Bank of India and U GRO Capital Wednesday signed a co-lending agreement and plans to disburse up to Rs 1,000 crore to medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs) over the next 12 months.

The disbursement will be to U GRO Capital's varied MSME segments under its programs - Pratham, Sanjeevani, Saathi, GRO MSME and machinery financing, a release said.

Central Bank of India's Executive Director Rajeev Puri said, We believe this initiative will financially empower a large section of MSME borrowers. We believe, co-lending as a concept is picking up pace and would change the lending landscape of credit dissemination for MSMEs in India.

The arrangement will ensure availability of credit to MSMEs at an affordable cost, he said.

U GRO Capital Executive Chairman and Managing Director Shachindra Nath said this is for the first time that the MSME lending platform has signed a co-lending arrangement for all its programs and plans to disburse approximately Rs 1,000 crore through this tie up in the next 12 months.