Shoma Patnaik
Panaji
Access of funds to the micro and small enterprises (MSEs) under a central scheme is improving in Goa, with an increase of 30% in the number of loans applied for in 2024-25.
According to information disclosed by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) on Monday, 6,510 business concerns received collateral-free, credit guarantee loans under the central government’s Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) during the year as compared to 4,947 units in 2023-24.
In terms of value, loans amounting to Rs 857 crore were approved to the Goan MSE sector in 2024-25 from the Rs 611 crore in the previous year.
Statistics provided by the ministry reveal that overall CGTMSE loans are on the uptrend since 2020, with the major surge in approvals taking place in the last two years. The credit guarantee scheme loan approvals were Rs 135 crore in 2020-21, followed by Rs 174 crore in 2021-22 and Rs 325 crore in
2022-23.
The data shared indicates that defaults under the scheme are low in the state with only 135 claims submitted by banks in 2024-25 vis-à-vis 116 in the previous year.
The CGTMSE loans are disbursed through banks, and address the credit requirement of micro and small businesses. The loans ease the burden of the borrower of providing external collateral or a third-party guarantee.
To promote wider adoption of the scheme, the Union government revamped the credit guarantee scheme on April 1, 2023, and also increased the fund corpus to Rs 9,000 crore. As a part of the revamp, the standard rate of annual guarantee fee (AGF) was reduced by 50% to as low as 0.37% per annum. The AGF was further rationalised on April 1, this year for guarantees above Rs one crore. The guarantee coverage for women-led enterprises has also been raised from 85% to 90% to encourage women entrepreneurship.
Under the scheme, micro and small business owners can opt for term loans as well as working capital loans. The repayment is spread out over a couple of months to a few years depending upon the loan amount decided by both, borrower and the lender.
Goa has around 71,600 micro and small units, which indicates that despite the growth in CGTMSE loans, less than 10% of the micro and small enterprises are covered under the scheme presently.
