Sidbi expects its loan book to hit Rs 5 lakh crore this fiscal

State-owned Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) expects its loan book to reach Rs 5 lakh crore this fiscal and direct funding to touch 25 per cent of its total book over the next three years. The SME loan book (of commercial banks) as of March 2023 was Rs 25 lakh crore, while the total credit market stood at a little over Rs 148 lakh crore, according to the RBI data.

"We closed FY23 with a loan book of Rs 4 lakh crore, and the demand for refinance and direct funding is so strong that I am confident of clocking 25 per cent growth in asset creation this fiscal, which will take our total loan book to Rs 5 lakh crore or more by March 2024," Sidbi chairman S Raman told reporters here on Tuesday on the sidelines of a Sidbi-organised global SME financing summit as part of the just-concluded the G20 Summit.

Stating that direct financing is growing by leaps and bounds, he said that when he took over two years ago, direct financing was only 7 per cent of the book. This is today 14 per cent and is on course to cross 15 per cent this year.

"My objective is to take this to a quarter (25 per cent) of the total book over the next three years," Raman said.

Raman was with the capital markets regulator Sebi before moving into the corner room of Sidbi.

The chairman also said the lender will be going in for a rights issue to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore next fiscal to shore up its equity capital.

"We met the Department of Financial Services recently on fundraising. Since the government and the RBI have allowed us to leverage by 18 times of our net owned funds, we can go in for a 10,000 crore capital raising next fiscal to meet the rising need for funding.

"We expect to issue fresh shares to our shareholders (25 per cent is held by the Centre) and the rest by state-run financial institutions in two tranches of Rs 5,000 crore each next fiscal," Raman said.