Credit disbursal by banks to micro, small and medium enterprises in Bengal is expected to touch around ₹2 lakh crore in 2025-26, growing 7.5 per cent over the previous year.
“The compounded annual growth of credit in this state for the last 10-12 years is almost 22 per cent. In 2011, the credit that was extended to the MSME sector was close to ₹8,000 crore. Last financial year, it was ₹1.87 lakh crore. This year, we should certainly be crossing ₹2 lakh crore,” said Rajesh Pandey, principal secretary, MSME & textiles department of the Bengal government.
Pandey said that at the state level bankers committee, important departments like finance, MSME, agriculture department and others sit with the bankers and find out where the gaps are, where things are not moving and how to expedite them, which has resulted in the consistent credit flow to the MSME sector.
He further said that in a bid to formalise the informal sector, the state has introduced the Bhabishyat Credit Card Scheme – subsidised enterprise loans — which has already got a significant response.
“Almost ₹1000 crore worth of loans have been sanctioned in the last 1.5-2 years in the state, and that is leading to a lot of synergies at the grassroots level,” Pandey said at a seminar organised by the Ficci West Bengal State Council on Tuesday on the occasion of the International MSME Day.