Central Bank of India, U GRO Capital Sign Agreement; Aim To Disburse Rs.1000 Cr MSME Loans

U GRO Capital, an MSME lending fintech platform, on Wednesday said that it has signed a co-lending agreement with the Central Bank of India with an aim to disburse up to Rs. 1000 crores to varied MSME segments under its programs like Pratham, Sanjeevani, Saathi, GRO MSME and Machinery financing, in the next 12 months. 

The Co-lending arrangement with the Central Bank of India will work towards providing formal credit to underserved MSMEs at affordable rates across all product categories of U GRO Capital. 

For the same, the bank will leverage U GRO’s digital technology platform driven by a Data Tripod of GST, Banking and Bureau, in addition to the company’s deep sectoral understanding and multi-channel distribution reach.  

“We believe this initiative will financially empower a large section of MSME borrowers. We believe, Co–lending as a concept is picking up pace and would change the lending landscape of credit dissemination for MSMEs in India. This agreement is in line with the Central Bank of India’s objective to accelerate the credit to MSMEs in India and contribute towards the mission of Atmanirbhar Bharat by making credit available to MSMEs at an affordable cost," said the Executive Director, Central Bank of India, Rajeev Puri. 

The Executive Chairman and Managing Director, U GRO Capital, Shachindra Nath that we are witnessing an inflation point in MSME lending with the enhanced utility of the Data Tripod – i.e. GST, Banking and Bureau. For the first time, UGRO Capital is signing a Co-lending arrangement for all the programs which include Pratham, Sanjeevani, Saathi, GRO MSME and Machinery Finance. It is expected that U GRO would do approximately Rs. 1000 Crores disbursements through this tie-up in the next twelve months.

"With this partnership, U GRO is now able to serve the entire spectrum of MSME borrowers across various interest rate buckets. Collaborations like these will further catalyze the financial inclusion efforts for Indian MSMEs. This arrangement is a reaffirmation of our underwriting methodology and the belief that the bank bestows in our vision of solving the credit needs of the MSMEs, using sectoral expertise and technology. This partnership would not only benefit U GRO but eventually benefit all the other FinTechs and NBFCs which are integrated with our GRO – Xstream platform. We look forward to nurturing this relationship towards supporting more MSMEs to enable their revival and growth," said Nath.