Mudra Bank Panel to Meet on Thursday

Mumbai: A government panel entrusted with the task of setting up the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency or Mudra Bank will hold its second meeting in the capital on Thursday, a top official said here on Wednesday.

"At tomorrow's (Thursday's) meeting to be held in New Delhi, the committee headed by Finance Ministry Joint Secretary Alok Tandon and comprising representatives of SIDBI, Nabard and the Indian Banks Association (IBA), among others, will discuss the draft Bill to set up the Mudra Bank," said Mudra Bank chief executive Jiji Mammen, who was here to sign a general refinance agreement with the state-owned Dena Bank.

Mr Mammen said Mudra Bank has already received a non-banking finance company (NBFC) licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and is registered under the Companies Act.

Once the draft is finalised, it will go to Parliament for final approval to make Mudra Bank operational, he said.

Mudra Bank, with a seed capital of Rs 250 crore, plans to finance MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore through banks by March.

"We plan to finance MSMEs by way of refinancing banks to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore this financial year. Currently, the Mudra Bank has a seed capital of Rs 250 crore only. However, funds to meet the target of financing Rs 20,000 crore through banks to MSMEs will come from SIDBI, which owns Mudra entirely as of now," he said.

Mr Mammen also said the financing plan worth Rs 20,000 crore will be part of the Rs 1 lakh crore MSME initiative under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra scheme.

Mudra Bank was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 8.

Dena Bank is the seventh state-owned lender to partner with Mudra Bank under the scheme which is looking at partnering 115 banks which include state-owned, private sector and regional rural banks.

Dena Bank is likely to finance around Rs 540 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra (PMMY) scheme during the current fiscal year.

"Dena Bank has been assigned target of Rs 540 crore for financing under the scheme. The bank has already started financing under the scheme and as of June 15, around Rs 50 crore loan had already been extended to 2,650 beneficiaries," Dena Bank chairman and managing director Ashwani Kumar said.

The bank will be extending loans up to Rs 10 lakh under the scheme at its base rate which currently stands at 10 per cent. In case the loan amount is over Rs 10 lakh, then we it come under the bank's regular SME lending programme at an interest rate of 11.5 per cent, he said.

"The bank will get refinancing from Mudra Bank at an annual interest rate of 6.75 to 7 per cent," he said.

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