Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) on Thursday said it will set up 100 Swavalamban Connect Kendras (SCK) in five states to boost entrepreneurship among the youth. Part of SIDBI’s Mission Swavalamban that focuses on developing job creators, SCKs will work in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Telangana to help establish 7,000 enterprises along with supporting existing businesses to grow, SIDBI said in a statement. Through SCKs, SIDBI intends to boost its mission from the awareness stage to “enterprise setting up and stepping up including conversion of calls into informed leads, mapping gaps for suitable engagement, hand holding for setting up an enterprise, credit connect etc.,” SIDBI said.
“This step is to move up from awareness and ensure in facilitating the conversion of entrepreneurial dreams into reality,” said Mohammad Mustafa, IAS, CMD, SIDBI. The bank also launched a missed call service, operational from November 1, 2019, for seeking assistance related to setting up a business.
SIDBI wasn’t available for immediate comments for this story, however, a questionnaire seeking details pertaining to the programme was sent.
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The Kendras would also help develop an entrepreneurship culture among the youth through camps, sharing the experience of other entrepreneurs, group discussions among stakeholders including bankers.
Earlier this month, SIDBI had partnered with Usha International Limited for supporting women entrepreneurship at the village level by imparting sewing and stitching skills. 35 women are part of the current batch under the Mission Swavalamban to set-up their own centres of sewing and stitching.
MSME credit growth in the quarter ending June 2019 slowdown after a sustained quarter-on-quarter steady rise over the last few years, according to TransUnion CIBIL- SIDBI MSME Pulse Report. The YoY commercial credit growth was 10.4 per cent in the said period however, the QoQ comparison suggested a 2.6 per cent fall in credit exposure in the June ending quarter over March quarter 2019. The commercial lending went down to Rs 63.8 Lakh from Rs 65.5 Lakh Crores in the March quarter.
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