State Bank of India BSE – 0.55 %, the country’s largest lender, looks to grow loans to small and medium enterprises by at least 10-12% this year with gradual improvement of their order book position and cash flows while the corporate sector continues to be under stress.
Last fiscal, SBI’s SME lending did not grow at all as the sluggish economy had impacted their financials negatively.
“We have moved to cash flow based financing from balance sheet based funding,” said Rajnish Kumar, Managing Director, SBI on September 16, in Kolkata.
“With improving of their cash flows, we see 10-12% loan growth very much feasible this fiscal. Although, internally, we would like to aim for 14-15% growth,” Kumar said.
He said that about half of SBI’s Rs 2 lakh crore SME portfolio today doesn’t depend on their balance sheet strength. SBI is also focusing on supply-chain financing and receivable-based funding. The lender has set a target of 13-14% for overall loan growth though it does not see much optimism around the corporate sector.
