SIDBI sets up ‘Swavalamban Crisis Responsive Fund’ to help MSMEs

The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), the principal financial institution engaged in the promotion, financing, and development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), is setting up ‘Swavalamban Crisis Responsive Fund’ to support free onboarding of MSMEs on Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS).

Receivables Exchange of India Ltd. (RXIL), M1xchange and Invoicemart are three TReDS platforms that help MSMEs gain access to working capital through invoice discounting via multiple financiers.

In a press statement, SIDBI CMD Mohammad Mustafa said the government has been taking several steps to strengthen the MSME ecosystem and these vehicles to implement several Government of India initiatives towards quick response to Covid-19 fallout.

"The present endeavour of setting up Swavalamban Crisis Responsive Fund (SCRF), under Swavalamban Resource Facility, where SIDBI partners with Department for International Development (DFID) UK, is yet another differentiated intervention by the Bank. It aims at offering relief to the MSMEs during these challenging times. We are hopeful that MSMEs shall maximise this opportunity to onboard TReDS, thus getting much-needed breather from squeezed/severely crunched cash flow," he said.

TReDS is an electronic platform where receivables of MSMEs drawn against buyers (large corporates, public sector undertakings, government departments, etc.) are financed through multiple financiers at competitive rates through an auction mechanism. TReDS is an answer to the everlasting cash flow issues of the MSMEs, particularly in these Covid-19 challenging times.

In order to induce MSMEs to increasingly join on these platforms and leverage the gains, discussions were conducted with these platforms. They have all proactively come forward to join the national responsive initiative to extend free onboarding access to MSMEs till September 2020.

The fund would be utilised to partially offset the cost of joining/registration fee on the TReDS platform and support the TReDS Companies to ensure free onboarding charges for MSMEs.