HSBC keen to tap SME biz

In a bid to tap the growing small and medium enterprise (SME) market which appears to be buoyant despite the economic downturn, HSBC India today launched another SME specific product called HSBC Direct.

Its new products were in tandem with the bank's resolution to develop the SME sector as one of the major thrust areas for this year.

One reason which led HSBC to shift focus to SME sector was the sectors robust performance last year as also the findings of the Asia Pacific Small Business Confidence survey carried out in May 2008 in which India figured at the top of the list in the SME sector.

HSBC had a customer base of 50000 clients in the SME sector presently, and business was growing at 8-10 percent per month, said Bhuvnesh Khanna, head of the SME business in the commercial banking section of HSBC.

SME specific products would help HSBC achieve further expansion of the customer base this year, he added.

He said one of the major focus areas of HSBC would be increasing its customer base through increased penetration in under-served regions, particularly tier-II cities, with an aim to reach out to the largest number of SMEs possible.

Last year the total revenue from the SME sector was close to Rs 300 crore.

The commercial banking sector including SME lending recorded a growth of 91 per cent last year, with the total profit before tax (PBT) jumping from $46 million in 2006 to $88 million in 2007.

In the first half of 2008, the PBT of the high-growth commercial banking section had already gone upto to $75 million, said Khanna.

The latest product, HSBC Direct, had been launched in countries like United Kingdom and Ireland earlier and offered innovative technology that made it completely online for SMEs, he claimed.

It offered added benefits like multiple debit cards, zero balance requirement, free online transactions and cash withdrawal of upto two lakh from any of the 23000 visa ATMs across the country.