'SMEs, co-op banks are two sides of same coin'

'SMEs, co-op banks are two sides of same coin'

THE development of the country depended on its small traders. The Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs) contributed 45 per cent of the manufacturing output of the country and had a share of 40 per cent | of the total exports of the country, 't In India, there were about 3 crore SME entrepreneurs giving employment 10 about 10 crore people, hence the SMEs played a vital role, said Vidyadhar Vaishampayan.

Chairman. Thane Janata Sahakari Bank Limited and Director. NAFCUB. He was speaking at a function organised by Shriram Urban Co-operative Bank Limited on Monday in the Scientific Sabhagruh. Vaishampayan further stated that the SMEs and co-operative banks were the two sides of the same coin. "There is wide scope for finance lo the SMEs as most of them, upto 85 per cent are arranging finance from their personal sources," he said. He also mentioned that his bank had given 50 per cent ofloan 10 the first-generation entrepreneurs and was running in good profit.

Vaishampayan also cautioned about the savings rate coming down from 36 per cent to 30 per cent. "The hankers are now required to he more alert." he said. Throwing light on the subject - 'The role of co-operative banks incapacity building for young entrepreneurs' - he said that the SME sector was lagging behind due to lack of availability of credit and high cost of credit due to which 85 per cem of the SMEs were self-dependent, collateral requirement in credit, limited axis equity funding, excessive Government laws, competitive raw material rates, lack of access to global market, etc. The co-operative banks could use this sector as the nationalised banks had now started funding the SMEs but the co-operative hanks were already financing in the same sector. "There is a huge potential in funding the SME sector." he said. In the beginning, Adv Ulhas Aurangabadkar. Chairman of the bank, in his welcome address, presenicd a brief walkthrough of the bank's 18 years of journey.

"We are now at a grown up age of 18 years with steady progress believing sudden rise has a sudden fall. As per the unedited figures as of March 31. 2014. the bank has deposits of Rs 107 crore.

The bank has disbursed loan of Rs 64 crore with a business per employee of Rs 3 crore and the bank has earned a net profit of Rs 1.3 crore." he said. He also noted that the bank wanted to bring forward the success story and the work of successful entrepreneurs and hence the initiative had been started from this year.

The bank awarded 'Udyam' award to Ashok Ratnakar Kale of Sanstar Microsystems Private Limited and Sunita Gandhi of Aakar Interiors. They also shared their success stories and interacted with the august gathering. CA Abhiram Deshmukh. Vice-Chairman of the bank, welcomed the guest with a small plant.