Sidbi ready to provide finance at doorsteps

Despite the financial slowdown, the Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi), the principal financial institution for promotion, financing and development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), is not shirking away from its proactive role and getting ready to provide services at the doorsteps in Uttarakhand.

With hundreds of industries setting up new units in the hill state to take benefits of slew of sops under the central industrial package (CIP), SIDBI, which recently opened its second branch at the industrial town of Rudrapur, has now launched yet another branch this time at Roorkee, the new emerging industrial hub. “We want to provide our services at the doorsteps. That is why we are opening our third branch at Roorkee,” said SN Gowan, deputy general manager (DGM), Sidbi, Dehra Dun.

Significantly, the new branches are being coming up at a time when there is a huge concern in the market about the financial slowdown. Like other companies, Sidbi has also not remained untouched from the malaise. “The financial slowdown has affected our business nearly 20 to 25 percent,” said Gowan. Sidbi is now asking its customers that it is ready to make arrangements for repayments and even ready to give additional time for repayment of the working capital needed at such times.

Sidbi is providing loan facilities, bank guarantees, working capital, letters of credit (LCs) and participating in equities. The branch at Roorkee was formally inaugurated by Rakesh Rewari, deputy managing director, SIDBI on Sunday.

“With the emerging changes in the macro-environment, the sector is expected to play a more dominant role in various capacities including creating vendor base for the large corporate which are setting up sourcing bases in India,” said KG Alai, general manager in-charge, northern zonal office, New Delhi. He added Sidbi has changed its role from being a mere refinancing agency to a more robust and market oriented institution meeting the varied requirements of the MSMEs.