New Delhi, Mar 7 (KNN) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das has said that availability of data from several sources like Goods and Service Tax Network (GSTN), income tax and credit bureaus are enabling lenders to appraise loan proposals of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) expeditiously by doing due diligence online.

Addressing the 15th ASSOCHAM Annual Banking Summit here, on Friday, Das claimed said that the traditional bank lending system by banks is based on financial statements and collateral of the borrower but with new technologies data can be obtain easily and lenders can apprise loans proposals to MSMEs.

"With the increased availability of data from several sources including Goods and Service Tax Network (GSTN), income tax and credit bureaus, it is now possible to appraise the MSME loan proposals expeditiously by doing due diligence online," he said.

Das said that despite, several measures have been introduced for improving access to finance and to promote the growth of the sector by both government and the RBI, still the small size of individual units and informal nature of the sector continue to pose challenges.

"The need is to have a right set of policies and enabling framework which guide and support MSMEs to effectively handle their existing problems and venture into new areas," he said.

Das further said that some lenders are collaborating with fin-tech companies to take advantage of such surrogate data for speedier credit underwriting for extending loans to the MSME sector.

''These new architectures will expand the reach of credit'', said Das.

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