Bankers need to increase SME lending in West Bengal since the sector has the potential of fostering inclusive growth,Manas Ranjan Bhunia,state MSME minister,said at the FE round table conference on small and medium enterprises on Wednesday. An initiative of FE and SBI,panellists at the round table discussed difficulties of MSMEs in Bengal and the roadmap ahead. While Anup Chanda,additional chief secretary (MSME),pointed out the need of timely loan disbursement to the heterogenous sector,SBI chief general manager Suriender Kumar said his banks exposure to the MSME sector in the state was Rs 44,000 crore for the year,the highest among all banks. But lending to the MSME at 13-14 per cent rate was not helpful for sustainable growth of the sector,argued Chandrakant Sulankhe,president,SME chamber of India,urging that lending rates for MSMEs should be brought down to around 7 per cent,the rate at which the agriculture sector gets credit. Gaurav Swarup,Ficcis eastern region chairman,said the government was required to focus on attracting large industrial investment,and Ravindra Sehgal,MD,Carnation Industries,stressed on the need to address issues of technology transfer,labour and market linkages besides credit availability. There are 27 lakh SMEs in Bengal and many members from chambers,including Ficci,Merchants Chamber and Bharat Chamber of Commerce,attended the roundtable. What was also apparent was the lack of a grievance cell for SMEs in the state. Many entrepreneurs complained that there was no one to hear of their difficulties,a point minister Bhunia noted.
