Credit Assessment Model for MSMEs Launched

New Delhi, Dec 2 (PTI) The government has recently launched the Credit Assessment Model (CAM) for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), Parliament was informed on Tuesday.

The model leverages the digitally fetched and verifiable data available in the ecosystem and devises automated journeys for MSME loan appraisal using objective decision for all loan applications and model-based limit assessment for both Existing to Bank (ETB) as well as New to Bank (NTB) MSME borrowers, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The Government, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) have been taking up various initiatives to promote digital payment transactions, he said.

These include an incentive scheme for promotion of RuPay Debit Cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions (P2M) and Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) to support deployment of digital payment infrastructure (such as POS Terminals and QR codes) in underserved regions, he said.

Further, he said, the Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor's AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) Scheme, launched in June 2020, is now extended to March 31, 2030, and has been jointly implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and Department of Financial Services.

Under the scheme, the loan extended to street vendors to support their business has been enhanced to Rs 15,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 in three tranches.

Other features included in the scheme are a UPI-linked RuPay Credit Card with a credit limit of Rs 30,000 and cashback incentives for digital transactions.

Replying to another question, Chaudhary said the guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on customer services in banks provide comprehensive directions on the usage of regional languages, so that banks could align their service delivery as per the regional needs.

Banks have also been advised to have a board approved policy for general management of the branches, including display indicator boards at all the counters, provide customers with booklets consisting of all details of service and facilities available at the bank, make available all printed material like opening forms, pay-in-slips, passbooks etc used by retail customers, availability of customer redressal etc in Hindi, English and concerned regional language.

Further, he said, banks are having multilingual contact centres and digital channels to provide banking services and offer assistance in the regional languages.

Department of Financial Services has also advised Public Sector Banks (PSBs) to comply with RBI's instructions on usage of concerned regional languages with respect to customer service in banks, he said.

Further, he said, RBI in communication to Schedule Commercial Banks (SCBs), has reiterated that all communications to customers should invariably be issued in a trilingual format - Hindi, English, and the regional language.

Also, the Indian Banks' Association (IBA), in its communication to all PSBs, has advised that they may have a policy on recruitment of Local Bank Officers (LBOs) to ensure effective communications with the local customers in their local language, more particularly in rural and semi-urban centres, and the same is being actively pursued by PSBs, he said.

Moreover, the customer service functions at the front-end in PSBs are primarily dealt with by the Customer Service Associates (CSAs), wherein, during the recruitment process, CSAs are now required to pass a Local Language Proficiency Test (LPT) for the official language of the State or Union Territory, where the staff shall be posted, he said.

This facilitates seamless communication in regional languages, resulting in effective customer service, he added.