State Bank of India (SBI) has launched ‘SME Digital Business Loans’, offering end-to-end sanction turnaround time of up to 45 minutes for SMEs (small and medium enterprises).
SME Digital Business Loans leverages technology and an ecosystem of APIs (application programming interface) to streamline the lending process.
Utilizing authentic data footprints from sources such as ITR (income tax return), GST (goods & service tax) returns, and bank statements, the Bank has developed a data-driven credit assessment engine capable of providing sanction decisions within a remarkable 10 seconds after submitting the required details, without any human intervention, SBI said in a statement.
“The proposition eliminates the need for traditional credit underwriting and lengthy appraisal processes...“For loans up to ₹50 lakhs, SBI has waived the requirement for financial statements, relying instead on transaction history and GST returns for appraisal,” the Bank said.
The new loan offering will be accessible to customers through all the Bank’s channels, including its website, branches, SME Centres, as well as internet platforms. Going ahead, SBI will make this product available across all its CSP (customer service point) partner touchpoints and via QR codes at outdoor touchpoints in the coming months.
Dinesh Kumar Khara, Chairman, SBI, said, “We have seamlessly integrated innovation with our customer-centric approach to revolutionize the MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) lending landscape, reducing human intervention and enhancing 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, further solidifying our position as the leading MSME lender in the country.” The bank registered 20 per cent year-on-year credit growth in the SME segment and the outstanding credit to SME borrowers crossed the ₹4 lakh crore as on March-end 2024.
MSME advances have been identified by SBI as the focal point for its growth and profitability over the next five years..
Vinay Tonse, Managing Director (Retail Banking & Operations), SBI, observed that with the launch of SME Digital Business Loans, the Bank is 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.
The bank said it has also digitized the Mudra product (offering loans to micro units having loan requirement up to ₹10 lakh) and automated the collateral-free process for loans under CGTMSE (Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprise ) cover.