Sidbi bats for sustainable development of MSMEs; pilots several projects

Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) has been making efforts for sustainable development of the MSME sector, which plays a key role in the economy, a senior official of the financial institution said on Thursday.

Deputy Managing Director of Sidbi, Sudatta Mandal, said it has taken proactive steps to make the MSME eco-system green with several financial and non-financial engagements.

Speaking at an interactive session on the occasion of International MSME Day organised by the MCCI, Mandal said Sidbi has launched various lending products on competitive terms to facilitate energy-efficient transition of the MSMEs.

"In the green space, Sidbi has piloted several projects and validated models such as Partial Risk Sharing Facility for energy efficiency programme supported by the World Bank with a corpus of $37 million, he said.

Mandal said Sidbi has made continuous efforts for holistic development of the MSME sector, which now contributes to 45 per cent of India's exports and close to 30 per cent of the country's GDP.

The official also said the financial institution is helping the MSMEs to assess the energy efficiency of business processes, and adopt low-emission pathways.

Mandal urged the sector to take advantage of schemes for technology upgradation, promoting innovation and credit-linked capital subsidies to grow in a sustainable manner.

Projects of 176 MSMEs covering investments worth Rs 3.20 lakh crore have been approved under the PLI (production linked incentive) schemes of the Centre, he added.