FICCI-CMSME, an affiliated body under the umbrella of FICCI and IDBI Bank, a leading public sector bank, announced a partnership through an MoU to make organized finance facility available for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) across the country at competitive interest rates.

The MoU was signed by A Didar Singh, secretary general, FICCI and FICCI-MSME and by B.K.Batra, deputy managing director, IDBI Bank. Others present during the ceremony were Sanjay Bhatia, president, FICCI-CMSME and managing director, Hindustan Tins Works; R Narayan, vice-president, FICCI-CMSME and CEO & Founder, Power2SME; Bipin Kabra, Chairman, Finance Group, FICCI-CMSME and president & CFO, Religare Finvest;   S. K. V. Srinivasan, executive director, IDBI Bank; Yashpal Gupta, chief general manager, IDBI Bank; Ajay Sharma, chief general manager, IDBI Bank.

Announcing the partnership, A Didar Singh said, ''Timely availability of credit at the right cost is the key expectation of industry from their banks.  While most of the large corporates manage to have attention of Bankers, most often smaller companies have a disadvantage in sourcing credit at right cost and right time.  MSME sector is a backbone of economy and banks have an important role in propelling growth of this important segment. FICCI and Grant Thornton undertook a survey of Indian MSMEs in 2013 to gauge the Indian business environment for MSMEs in which regulatory compliances and finance availability was consistently ranked highly among the issues identified by MSMEs. This tie up is a positive step towards that direction.''

Sanjay Bhatia, president, FICCI-CMSME said ''MSMEs are known as highest employment generator after agriculture hence, it is imperative to provide an ecosystem that could facilitate their financing, marketing, technological, infrastructural needs and make them more competitive. Easy & faster financing options could provide a trigger for faster, inclusive growth for MSMEs.''

B.K.Batra, deputy managing director, IDBI Bank said, ''This MOU with FICCI would be a win-win situation for both the organizations for meeting the credit requirements of the MSME sector in a timely and cost effective manner. The MOU would help IDBI Bank in further increasing its reach to the MSME Sector. IDBI Bank is focused on expanding its lending to this sector in view of the fact that the MSME is a key driver of Indian economy in terms of contribution to GDP, employment and exports. IDBI Bank will continue to play a leading and active role in promoting development of MSME sector in the country''.

Shares of the bank gained Rs 4.1, or 4.39%, to trade at Rs 97.55. The total volume of shares traded was 379,466 at the BSE (1.05 p.m., Monday).