SME Rating Agency Sets Up Seva Kendra In Coimbatore

Coimbatore: The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country, which have awarded rating from the SME Rating Agency of India Ltd (SMERA), have been able to obtain financial assistance at concessional rate of interest from the lending institutions - the interest rate reduction ranging from 0.25 percentage point up to even 3.5 percentage points. SMERA, which established the first SME Seva Kendra in Coimbatore on Aug 6, to guide the SMEs to give greater access to bank credit through quality rating and trade intelligence on products etc, plans to open 60 Seva Kendras for the SMEs across the country.

The awareness among the SMEs at the grass root level of various Government schemes unveiled to benefit them was very low. The Kendras will assist to bridge this gap. It will also help train the SMEs in areas of their weaknesses basics of accounting, IT, HR practices etc. The Seva Kendras opened by SMERA will assist more and more units to obtain rating. More than 20 per cent of the entities that were rated by SMERA obtained interest rate benefits or loans on preferential terms such as reduction in margin requirements or increased exposure by the banks. The interest rate cut ranged from 0.25 percentage point to one percentage point and in some cases, it was as high as even 3.5 per cent.