IVCA Conclave 2024 is being held in Mumbai – Discussions on Building from India for the World

We have given about 2 lakh loans of 1 lakh ticket sizes to women borrowers: Shri Sivasubramanian Ramann, CMD, SIDBI

₹3.64 lakh crores worthy loans were covered under ECLGS, of which only 5% were NPAs: Shri Sivasubramanian Ramann, CMD, SIDBI

Mumbai, February 26: The first day of the IVCA Conclave 2024 in Mumbai featured panel discussion with Shri Sivasubramanian Ramann, the Chairman and Managing Director of the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). Industry leaders Munish Sharda, Group Executive, Retail Assets & Bharat Banking, Axis Bank, and Utpal Isser, Co-founder, Sarvagram also participated in the panel discussion, which was moderated by Jyotsna Krishnan, Managing Partner, Elevar Equity. The topic was 200Mn+ Entrepreneurial Households: An EPIC Growth Opportunity.

There exists an estimated 200 million+ “entrepreneurial households” in India, characterised as having a driving hunger to succeed and rise through. By employing innovation and passion, these households, primarily located in Tier 2 and 3 cities – “Bharat” – are expected to lead India to several peaks.

Shri Sivasubramanian Ramann opened by revealing that by committing around ₹9,800 crores or some such number like that, the industry has raised an additional ₹56,00 crore from the market. On the topic of entrepreneurial households, he continued, “It’s truly amazing to read about the sheer entrepreneurship and the industriousness of those households; I have seen it in various trips I make.”

He highlighted how women in Tier 2 and 3 regions are becoming economically successful and running businesses that are generating employment. On this, he said, “An unmistakable aspect of human life is when wealth is created, you’ll have everybody going in droves and wanting to be part of that wealth story.”

He continued, “How do we get this information in databases which are structured and which can then come across to all the bankers who would be delighted to have the information that can give us the due diligence of these people? Because most of this community is probably non-GST registered businesses.”

“In the next 3–4 years, we are looking at the demand for credit from the MSME sector which is ₹30 trillion, while the entire MSME borrowing on date is ₹25 trillion. So, we are actually looking at more than double of what we have got. How does that throughput go through is actually the big question that we have to ask for ourselves,” pointed out Shri Sivasubramanian Ramann.

He also revealed how credit is being provided to businesses: “Some statistics on how COVID sort of played itself out: Under the 100% sovereign guarantee that was provided during COVID-19 called ECLGS, ₹3.64 lakh crores worthy loans were covered under ECLGS. We received NPA markings to the extent of ₹17,000 crores, so that’s just 5% of the total loans given out in a stressed period. I think that was remarkably low.”

About 2 lakh loans of 1 lakh ticket sizes have been given out. He said, “75% of these are women borrowers. I can sense that from the JLG/SHG, there is a gradual movement away from group loans and into individual loans.”