Date:01/12/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/12/01/stories/2005120101721900.htm

Back SBI to disburse Rs 550-cr loan to SMEs in AP

Our Bureau

Visakhapatnam , Nov. 30

STATE Bank of India will lend Rs 550-600 crore to the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Andhra Pradesh during the current financial year.

In an interaction with traders here on Tuesday evening, Mr S.W Tanksale, Deputy General Manager, in charge of the SME finance, said the bank had disbursed Rs 270 crore to the units during the first half of the year. "We are confident of achieving the target," he said.

He told the trade that the bank had devised a number of tailor-made products for them and they would be modified suitably from time to time.

"Apart from financing conventional industries such as rice milling, we are willing to finance a number of new units coming up in the wake of reforms," he said.

He said the SBI had tied up with the Apollo group for financing clinics and 200 of them would come up in the country, 11 in the State. "These clinics will be set up in the smaller cities and towns and the Apollo group has called for prospective entrepreneurs (franchisees) for them," he said.

The bank had also tied up with Reliance for setting up petrol bunks. "We are financing clusters of SSIs, such as the cashew processing units at Palasa, as the Government is encouraging that approach," he said.

He said there were seven SBI branches specifically for financing SMEs, one of them in Visakhapatnam. "We are planning to finance the units coming up in the apparel export park at Gajuwaka," he added.

Mr T.V Rama Mohana Rao, Assistant General Manager, explained the products to the trade. Mr Sudarsan Swamy, President of the Vizag Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also participated.