MSME Sector Holds Immense Potential Says RBI Governor

Shaktikanta Das, Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) noted in a speech that MSME sector holds immense potential and the need is to have a right set of policies and enabling framework which guide and support MSMEs to effectively handle their existing problems and venture into new areas. While both the Government and the RBI have introduced a plethora of measures for improving access to finance and to promote growth of the sector, the small size of individual units and informal nature of the sector continue to pose challenges.

The traditional bank lending system by banks is based on financial statements and collateral of the borrower. With increased availability of data from several sources, including GSTN, income tax, credit bureaus, etc., it is now possible to appraise the MSME loan proposals expeditiously by doing due diligence online. Further, with the help of Account Aggregators (AA), lenders will have access to potential borrower's financial information at a single point, of course, with his/her consent. Furthermore, emergence of FinTech companies has made it possible to assess credit worthiness of MSMEs by utilising unexplored data sources such as digital transaction trails, data generated through e-commerce sites, etc.

While the new models are beneficial for those units which are digitally active, a large segment of MSME units access credit through traditional lending models. While micro enterprises act as a starting stage of entrepreneurship that requires low investment in technology, units graduating to small and medium enterprises have to enhance their technical capacity and explore newer markets in order to stay competitive for sustainable growth. Recent policy efforts will provide an enabling environment and facilitate the MSME sector seize the new emerging opportunities.

Given the fact that the MSME sector contributes significantly to exports, it is essential that they should be integrated with global value chains (GVC) to remain competitive as it offers unique opportunity to become technologically and digitally empowered. Being part of GVC would enable MSMEs to produce quality goods and services which will have greater acceptability in the global market.

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