The number of MSME accounts linked with outstanding credit increased to 320.68 lakh in FY19.

Credit and Finance for MSMEs: The outstanding credit to the MSME sector by scheduled commercial banks for FY19 increased by 14.08 per cent from FY18. The amount for FY19 stood at Rs 15.10 lakh crore (Rs 15,10,650.52 crore) up from Rs 13.24 lakh crore (Rs 13,24,239.35 crore) in FY18 and Rs 12.96 lakh crore (Rs 12,96,398.82 crore) in FY17, MSME minister Nitin Gadkari said in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on Monday quoting RBI data. The number of MSME accounts linked with outstanding credit during the period increased from 233.63 lakh in FY17 to 261.65 lakh in FY18 and 320.68 lakh in FY19.

Credit to MSME Sector is influenced by various factors which inter-alia also include funding and liquidity challenges faced by the NBFCs, MSME ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It noted various schemes such as margin money subsidy under Prime Minister’s employment generation programme, credit guarantee support, scheme for interest subvention, credit linked capital subsidy scheme, loans to micro-enterprises under the Prime Minister’s Mudra Yojana, support through Startup India and Stand up India programmes, 59 minutes loan portal, and MSME-Samadhaan portal to help MSMEs access credit.

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Gadkari said that the number of collateral-free loans (credit facility) approved to MSMEs during FY19 stood at 4.36 lakh worth Rs 30,168.57 crore up from 2.63 lakh loans worth Rs 19,065.90 crore in FY18. The minister further informed the Upper House that the number trainees trained has also increased from 1.47 lakh in FY18 to 2.08 lakh in FY19. “The Ministry of MSME focuses on high-end skilling and technical support through the existing 18 Tool Rooms/Technology Centres,” the statement said. In September this year, MSME secretary Arun Kumar Panda had said that the government is looking to increase the count of Tool Rooms from 18 to 153 that would train around 8 lakh youth in various skills.

MSME minister also highlighted the projects approved under the Cluster Development Approach to boost capacity and productivity of micro and small businesses. Gadkari said that the number of projects approved and completed for FY19 was 36 and 28 respectively that increased from 21 approved and 24 completed projects in FY18. The budget utilized for two periods stood at Rs 157.11 crore (FY18) and Rs 172.73 crore (FY19).