RBI gives training in MSME credit to 11,000 bank officers

Mumbai, Nov 18: (PTI) while a debate is going on whether the RBI should do more to ease credit to MSMEs, banking officials said the central bank has provided special training to nearly 11,000 officers at various commercial banks on lending to micro, small and medium enterprises.

This training has been provided to officers working at nearly 3,000 bank branches covering all districts in India through more than 2,000 special workshops in the last three years, the officials said.

These are mostly specialized bank branches catering to the MSME sector where this multi-level training has been provided, covering branch managers, senior officers and even faculty members of staff colleges who can further pass on the training to the bank employees.

Most importantly, the training exercise was executed in consultation with the government, including with the active involvement of the MSME ministry and the RBI’s objective has been to create a conducive environment to help these small entrepreneurs and companies avail easy and faster credit, officials said.

The officers have also been provided special kits to help their banks extend more credit to MSMEs, while they have also been trained on behavioral issues to deal with such borrowers with utmost care, they added.

The RBI’s central board will meet on Monday where the government nominees and some independent members are expected to take on Governor Urjit Patel and his team on various issues including norms for the MSME credit.