In terms of Government of India Gazette Notification S.O. 2119 (E) dated June 26, 2020 the definition of micro, small and medium enterprises is as under:

(i) A micro enterprise is an enterprise where the investment in plant and machinery or equipment does not exceed ₹1 crore and turnover does not exceed ₹5 crore;

(ii) A small enterprise is an enterprise where the investment in plant and machinery or equipment does not exceed ₹10 crore and turnover does not exceed ₹50 crore; and

(iii) A medium enterprise is an enterprise where the investment in plant and machinery or equipment does not exceed ₹50 crore and turnover does not exceed ₹250 crore.

All enterprises are required to register online on Udyam Registration Portal and obtain ‘Udyam Registration Certificate’. (Refer circulars FIDD.MSME & NFS.BC.No.3/06.02.31/2020-21 dated July 2, 2020, FIDD.MSME & NFS. BC. No.4/06.02.31/2020-21 dated August 21, 2020 FIDD.MSME & NFS.BC.No.13/06.02.31/2021-22 dated July 07, 2021)

Bank’s lending to the Micro, Small and Medium enterprises as under is eligible to be reckoned for priority sector advances:

(i) The definition of MSMEs will be as per Government of India, Gazette Notification S.O. 2119 (E) dated June 26, 2020 read with circulars FIDD.MSME & NFS.BC.No.3/06.02.31/2020-21 dated July 2, 2020, FIDD.MSME & NFS. BC. No.4/06.02.31/2020-21 dated August 21, 2020, FIDD.MSME & NFS.BC.No.13/06.02.31/2021-22 dated July 07, 2021 and updated from time to time.

(ii) Further, such MSMEs should be engaged in the manufacture or production of goods, in any manner, pertaining to any industry specified in the First Schedule to the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951 or engaged in providing or rendering of any service or services. All bank loans to MSMEs conforming to the above guidelines qualify for classification under priority sector lending.

Detailed guidelines on lending to the Micro, Small and Medium enterprises are available in our Master Direction FIDD.MSME & NFS.12/06.02.31/2017-18 dated July 24, 2017. The instructions issued by RBI, to banks, on various matters are available on our website www.rbi.org.in.

The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises vide Office Memorandum (OM) No. 5/2(2)/2021-E/P & G/Policy dated July 2, 2021 has allowed Udyam registration for retail and wholesale trade. Detailed guidelines are available in our circular FIDD.MSME & NFS.BC.No.13/06.02.31/2021-22 dated July 07, 2021.

Priority sector lending includes only those sectors as part of the priority sector, that impact large sections of the population, the weaker sections and the sectors which are employment-intensive such as agriculture, and Micro and Small enterprises. Detailed guidelines on Priority Sector Lending are available in our Master Direction on Priority Sector Lending FIDD.CO.Plan.BC.5/04.09.01/2020-21 dated September 04, 2020 and updated from time to time.

Banks have been advised to put in place loan policies governing extension of credit facilities for the MSE sector duly approved by their Board of Directors (Refer circular RPCD.SME & NFS.BC.No.102/06.04.01/2008-09 dated May 4, 2009). Banks have, however, been advised to sanction limits after proper appraisal of the genuine working capital requirements of the borrowers keeping in mind their business cycle and short-term credit requirement. As per Nayak Committee Report, working capital limits to SSI units is computed on the basis of minimum 20% of their estimated turnover up to credit limit of ₹5 crore.

A composite loan limit of ₹1 crore can be sanctioned by banks to enable the MSME entrepreneurs to avail of their working capital and term loan requirement through Single Window in terms of our Master Direction on Lending to the MSME sector dated July 24, 2017. All scheduled commercial banks were advised vide our circular RPCD.SME&NFS. BC.No.102/06.04.01/2008-09 dated May 4, 2009 that the banks which have sanctioned term loan singly or jointly must also sanction working capital (WC) limit singly (or jointly, in the ratio of term loan) to avoid delay in commencement of commercial production thereby ensuring that there are no cases where term loan has been sanctioned and working capital facilities are yet to be sanctioned.

Cluster based approach to lending is intended to provide a full-service approach to cater to the diverse needs of the MSE sector which may be achieved through extending banking services to recognized MSE clusters. A cluster-based approach may be more beneficial (a) in dealing with well-defined and recognized groups (b) availability of appropriate information for risk assessment (c) monitoring by the lending institutions and (d) reduction in costs.

The banks have, therefore, been advised to treat it as a thrust area and increasingly adopt the same for SME financing. Banks have also been advised that they should open more MSE focussed branch offices at different MSE clusters which can also act as counselling centres for MSEs. Each lead bank of the district may adopt at least one cluster (Refer circular RPCD.SME & NFS.No.BC.90/06.02.31/2009-10 dated June 29, 2010).

As part of the financial sector liberalisation, all credit related matters of banks including charging of interest have been deregulated by RBI and are governed by the banks' own lending policies.

With a view to improve monetary policy transmission, banks have been advised to link loans to Micro and Small Enterprises to an external benchmark from October 01, 2019. (Refer circular DBR.DIR.BC.No.14/13.03.00/2019-20 dated September 04, 2019). To further improve the transmission of monetary policy rates, it has been decided that with effect from April 01, 2020, loans to Medium Enterprises shall be linked to external benchmark. (Refer circular DOR.DIR.BC.No.39/13.03.00/2019-20 dated February 26, 2020).

In terms of our circular RPCD.SME&NFS.BC.No.79/06.02.31/2009-10 dated May 6, 2010, banks are mandated not to accept collateral security in the case of loans upto ₹ 10 lakh extended to units in the MSE sector.