NTWB welcomes Jan Vishwas Amendments (See 'Corp Brief') Anand Kumar Pal joins MoF as Chief Cost Adviser (See 'Corp Brief') India-GCC reaffirms commitment to Regional Stability (See 'Corp Brief') India-Bahrain stresses stability, Supply Chain Resilience and Stronger Economic Ties (See 'Corp Brief') J&K youth can be torchbearers of India's growth story in coming years: MoS (See 'Corp Brief') India Skills National Competition 2025-26 concludes in Greater Noida (See 'Corp Brief') MoFPI holds Parliamentary Consultative Committee and NIFTEM Council Meetings in Shillong (See 'Corp Brief') Minister to inaugurate 2-day Interactive forum to mark World Homoeopathy Day 2026 (See 'Corp Brief') IPR - Controller of Patent would decide whether differences, viewed in knowledge of alleged invention, constitute steps which would have been obvious to ordinary person skilled in art and rule out hindsight approach: HC (See 'Legal Desk') MoS asks private sector to accelerate its participation in R&D activities (See 'Corp Brief') 'Sahkar se Samriddhi' Vision guides National Review Conference in Varanasi (See 'Corp Brief') Department of Higher Education organises interactive session on Indian Knowledge Systems (See 'Corp Brief') IPR - Generic disclosure does not, by itself, defeat novelty of specific disclosure; Prior art that teaches away from claimed invention cannot serve as foundation for anticipation: HC (See 'Legal Desk') Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana completes 11 Years of empowering Small and Micro Entrepreneurs (See 'Corp Brief') International Conference on Spacecraft Mission Operations being held in Bengaluru (See 'Corp Brief') IPR - Prior user of trademark has superior rights over subsequent user who holds registration for same or similar mark: HC (See 'Legal Desk') Sirsa to review status of saline water Aquaculture cluster notified under PMMSY (See 'Corp Brief') TRAI releases paper on Satellite Communication Network Authorisation (See 'Corp Brief') Union Minister of Power to embark on 4-Day Visit to Bhutan (See 'Corp Brief') Benami Act - If no loan was repaid in actual, and just funds have been rotated among same group of parties, thereby establishing benami transaction, provisional attachment is justified: SAFEMA (See 'Legal Desk') CCI nod for acquisition of shares by Coastal Cedar Investments in Fleur Hotels (See 'Corp Brief') CCI approves acquisition of equity of KNR SPVs by Indus Infra Trust (See 'Corp Brief') CCI approves acquisition by Citrus Investment LLC of shares in Hitachi Construction Machinery (See 'Corp Brief') CCI okays acquisition of equity shares of Aditya Birla Housing Finance Ltd. by Indriya Ltd. (See 'Corp Brief') Company Law - Sourcing pre-condition deposit unlawfully from corporate funds in direct violation of Sec 185, or executing settlement agreements without effectuating actual refunds or delivering legally valid & habitable possession, is illegal: SC (See 'Legal Desk') CCI approves acquisition of equity in Nabha Power by Torrent Power Ltd. (See 'Corp Brief') Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam attains First Criticality (See 'Corp Brief') Policy for Transit Oriented Development for providing affordable housing in Delhi (See 'Corp Brief') PMLA - Initiating proceedings under PMLA for continuing possession or use of proceeds of crime acquired prior to enactment of PMLA does not violate Article 20(1) of Constitution: HC (See 'Legal Desk') Ministry of Mines notifies Amendment in Rules for Faster Operationalisation of Mines (See 'Corp Brief') Govt to curb Distress Sale in APT Crops; Value Addition to boost Farmers' Income (See 'Corp Brief') Navi Mumbai turning Textile Waste into Opportunity for People (See 'Corp Brief') TRAI releases Paper on 'Formulation of Regulatory Framework for ALTD Services (See 'Corp Brief') IPR - Minor alteration to well-established trademark, such as changing single letter, does not render new mark dissimilar, especially when it remains phonetically and visually close to original: HC (See 'Legal Desk') GeM achieves Rs 18.4 Lakh Crore GMV, Emerges as Key Digital Public Procurement Platform (See 'Corp Brief') Benami Act - Burden of proof of benami transaction rests strictly upon person asserting it, and reliance solely on uncorroborated statements of third parties recorded in unrelated Income Tax proceedings, is insufficient: SAFEMA (See 'Legal Desk') Union Minister to inaugurate NCVET Capacity Building (See 'Corp Brief') FEMA - Continuing adjudication u/s 16 of FEMA despite competent authority's refusal to confirm seizure u/s 37A of FEMA, is contrary to law: SC (See 'Legal Desk') Minister calls for stronger research-industry linkages to scale food innovation sector (See 'Corp Brief') A&C Act - Doctrine of 'transnational issue estoppel' applies to enforcement proceedings u/s 48 of Arbitration Act, barring enforcement court from undertaking merits-based review: SC (See 'Legal Desk') MoS backs scaling up indigenous Insulin production amid global supply concerns (See 'Corp Brief') A&C - Mere existence of document, despite it containing arbitration clause, would not qualify as arbitration agreement, unless it is signed by parties seeking to invoke clause as also party against whom enforcement is sought: HC (See 'Legal Desk') New Sainik School reflects Centre's Vision for Nation-Building through Education (See 'Corp Brief') A&C - Agreement to sell being unregistered and unstamped as per Registration Act, Transfer of Property Act, and Indian Stamps Act, cannot be enforced: HC (See 'Legal Desk') Supreme Court Clears Path For Single Insolvency Proceedings Against Linked Group Companies (See CORP EINSICHT)

Rs 25 Lakh loans, decision in 14 days - Govt moves to enhance credit access for MSMEs

Published: Mar 12, 2025

By TIOLCorplaws News Service

NEW DELHI, MAR 12, 2025: THE Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as a regulator, provides an enabling framework for Regulated Entities (REs) to cater to the financing needs of various sectors of the economy within the prudential boundaries. Further, credit related matters of REs are largely deregulated and the same are governed by the Board approved loan policies of the REs framed under the ambit of relevant regulatory and statutory requirements and terms and conditions of the loan agreement between the borrower and the RE. Banks have been advised to furnish the MSME borrowers with an indicative checklist of documents required for processing the loan application at the time of applying for the loan. For loans up to Rs.25 lakh to units in the Micro and Small Enterprises (MSE) borrowers, banks are advised that the timelines for credit decisions shall not be more than 14 working days. Various measures have been taken for increasing access to credit and finance for MSMEs.

These include:

- Specific targets for lending to MSME sector have been prescribed in Priority Sector guidelines dated 4.9.2020.

- SCBs have been mandated not to accept collateral security in the case of loans up to Rs.10 lakh extended to units in the MSE sector.

- Computation of working capital requirements of MSE units to be minimum 20% of the projected annual turnover for borrowal limits up to Rs.5 crore.

- Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) has been operationalized to address the problem of delayed payments to MSMEs.

- Banks have been advised to link interest rates of loans extended to MSMEs to an external benchmark.

- RBI's Account Aggregator (AA) framework and proposed Third Cohort under Regulatory Sandbox (RS) for MSME Lending is expected to spur innovations that can fill the lending gap for MSMEs through the use of technology and data analytics.

- RBI's Unified Lending Interface (ULI) will make credit more accessible to underserved populations.

- GST Sahay App of SIDBI facilitates 'on tap' invoice-based (cash flow based) small value credit to micro enterprises as a paperless journey.

- Udyam Assist Platform (UAP) to register Informal Micro Enterprises (IMEs) i.e. micro enterprises not registered under the GST regime.

- Under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojna (PMMY), Government has taken various steps towards effective implementation of the Scheme. These include publicity campaigns, simplification of application form, Credit Guarantee Scheme, nomination of Mudra Nodal Officer, frequent reviews at various levels to monitor the achievement against allocated target, etc. Online platforms like Jansamarth portal provide a quick and efficient way to get loans for individuals and businesses, with approvals based on digital evaluation of the applicant's data.

- PSBLoansin59minutes enables MSMEs to obtain In-principle approval of loans from lenders onboarded on the platform.

- SAMADHAAN Portal launched for monitoring of outstanding dues to the MSEs from the buyers of goods and services xiii. The Government of India has launched various Credit Guarantee schemes for the benefit of MSMEs.

- New Credit Assessment Model based on the scoring of digital footprints of MSMEs developed by PSBs will leverage the digitally fetched and verifiable data available in the ecosystem and devise automated journeys for MSME Loan appraisal using objective decisioning for all loan applications and model-based limit assessment for MSME borrowers.

This information was given by Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha yesterday.

TIOL CORP SEARCH

TIOL GROUP WEBSITES