State Bank of India (SBI) has introduced 'SME Digital Business Loans', for the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector, as part of its growth strategy. The bank promises to offer SMEs a streamlined digital loan journey with turn around time of up to 45 minutes for loan approvals.
This product leverages the bank's technology and ecosystem of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to simplify and expedite the lending process. Through the utilization of authentic data from sources such as Income Tax Returns (ITR), Goods and Services Tax (GST) returns, and bank statements, SBI has developed a data driven credit assessment engine capable of providing sanction decisions within a mere 10 seconds after the submission of required details, completely eliminating the need for human intervention.
"We have reduced human intervention and enhanced the ease of doing business, particularly for a segment previously characterized by high costs and manual processes. By leveraging the rich data footprint of MSME units in the ecosystem, we aim to provide the fastest and most intuitive lending process", said Dinesh Khara, Chairman, SBI.
Besides SME digital business loans, SBI will digitize its Mudra loans and automate the collateral free loan process under Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) cover. For loans up to Rs. 50 lakhs, SBI has waived the requirement for financial statements, relying instead on transaction history and GST returns for appraisal purposes.
"With the launch of SME Digital Business Loans, we are offering a unique proposition to both new and existing MSME relationships, ensuring in principle sanction within 45 minutes, ultimately empowering MSMEs to thrive in today's dynamic business landscape", said Vinay Tonse, MD Retail Banking & Operations, SBI.
SBI has posted a 20% credit growth in the SME segment, with outstanding credit to SME borrowers crossing the Rs. 4.00 lakh crore mark in FY24.
Borrowers can access the SME digital business loans from SBI's website, branches, SME Centres, and internet platforms. In future SBI will extend availability to all its Customer Service Point (CSP) partner touchpoints and through QR codes at outdoor locations.