Coimbatore: Despite remaining flat till December 2016, the loan portfolio for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is expected to register 15 per cent growth this fiscal, a top official of Lakshmi Vilas Bank said.

LVB extended loans worth Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 1,500 crore to SMEs in the last fiscal year ending March 2016 but there was flat growth till December 16 due to various reasons, LVB Managing Director and CEO Parthasarathi Mukherjee told reporters here.

Mukherjee said he is here in connection with the two-day LVB SME Expo to re-affirm the bank’s commitment to the SME segment and strengthen its position in SME Credit.

Stating that the Non Performing Assets of SME segment was close to one per cent, he said the bank had also achieved the stipulated 18 per cent loans to the agriculture sector.

The bank has augmented Rs 168 crore as part of capital infusion in the beginning of this financial year and is very strong at present, he said, adding that the banking system would tend to grow with the advent digital banking.

Mukherjee admitted that there was a slowdown in banking transactions in the 50 days from demonetisation of high value currencies from November 8. But now it started moving back to normal business, he said.

On the expo which began today, he said the bank would offer immediate SME loan for starting new business, expanding existing ones, purchasing commercial vehicles and much more, since about 80 SME customers spread across different regions of the bank in Tamil Nadu are participating.

In due course, LVB would also organise expos for the benefit of the agricultural sector, Mukherjee said

Source: The Asianage