The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has entered into agreements with eight regional rural banks (RRBs) and urban co-operative banks in West Bengal.

SIDBI has already signed memorandums of understanding with the RRBs and co-operative banks for increasing credit flow to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the region, said a press statement issued by SIDBI.

The MoUs would aim at training the staff of RRBs and co-operative banks in project appraisal, monitoring and collection as also providing free access to software on a down-scaling methodology developed for lending to micro enterprises.

“The down-scaling model focuses on cash flow-based lending instead of the traditional security-based lending, which is important for small and tiny enterprises,” the release said.

shobha.roy@thehindu.co.in