IIE and RBI-FIDD Host Workshop on 'Formal Credit Linkages for SFURTI Clusters' to Strengthen MSME Sectors

Guwahati: IIE, jointly with the Reserve Bank of India-FIDD (Financial Inclusion and Development Department), organized a workshop on "Formal Credit Linkages for SFURTI Clusters under MSME, Government of India for Cluster Strengthening" at its campus.

The workshop was attended by the Director, IIE, Dr. Lalit Sharma, DGM, RBI, Aloka Ranjan Ranarahu, DGM (SBI), Ashwin Kulkarni, faculties, and officials of IIE.

Addressing the gathering, director of IIE, Dr. Lalit Sharma, said, "Under IIE, several clusters have been developed in which infrastructure and capacity-building support have been provided, but there is a gap in the seed capital requirement of the clusters. To fulfil this gap, banks should develop appropriate schemes that can provide easy finances with low interest and a longer gestation period."

DGM (RBI) Aloka Ranjan Ranarahu elaborated on RBI guidelines regarding MSME finance and emphasised that collateral-free finance should be made available to MSME and also clusters up to a limit of 50 lakhs, and the same can be made available under CGT MSE to a limit of 5 crore. He urged bankers to take direction from such guidelines and take the initiative to finance the SFURTI cluster as well.

DGM (SBI) Ashwin Kulkarni, Convener, SLBC, and Assam requested banks adopt clusters and look at the financing of clusters holistically in the adoption model, including providing financial literacy to artisans and cluster members's collectives.

Initially, a technical session followed by an interaction was facilitated where crucial questions and existing challenges regarding formal credit linkage to clusters were deliberated between artisans and bankers. Five clusters under IIE as a Nodal Agency were selected for credit adoption by banks at the workshop.

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