The Hindu Business Line : SIDBI launches software for credit appraisal

SME FINANCING: Mr V. P. Shetty, Chairman, Indian Banks Association, flanked by Mr G. Srinivasan (right), Chief General Manager, RBI, and Mr Rakesh Rewari, Deputy Managing Director, SIDBI, at the launch of software tool for SME financing by banks and institutions in Mumbai on Thursday. - Paul Noronha

Mumbai , Dec. 7

Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has launched a new software for appraising and rating small and medium enterprises.

The software, called Credit Appraisal and Rating Tool (CART), has been developed in-house by SIDBI.

CART aims at helping in prudent decision-making on support-worthiness of credit proposals and on pricing of loans, said a statement from the company.

This internally developed tool has been used by SIDBI for the last three years.

It has contributed to significant reduction in credit dispensation time in the bank, said the statement.

SIDBI has sanctioned about 1,000 loans of average size of Rs 36 lakh using this tool.

"The software is intended for banks and state finance corporations who have signed MoUs with SIDBI for co-financing," said Mr Rakesh Rewari, Deputy Managing Director, SIDBI, at a news conference on Thursday.

State Bank of India, IDBI Ltd, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Dena Bank, Corporation Bank, YES Bank, among others have signed MoUs with SIDBI. "SIDBI has co-financed Rs 100 crore till now," Mr Rewari added.

The software has different modules for different loan categories, based on their size. It takes into account the nature and purpose of the loan whether it is for working capital, greenfield projects, and so on, said a senior official with SIDBI. "The software can also be customised to suit individual requirements. Software modifications can take care of bigger loans," he said.

The development of CART under open system architecture is also complete, and now banks and financial institutions may use CART in their own locations on any convenient IT platform. "The new CART which is IT platform independent, is expected to consider loan proposals up to Rs 1 crore," said a SIDBI statement. This would also bring along standardisation and transparency to the credit decision process, it said.

The software can be deployed on stand-alone computers, on servers in local area and wide area network modes or on the Internet. SIDBI has developed a separate Web-based version of the software.

The software also has the facility for undertaking re-rating of proposals.

"CART will bring in greater speed and transparency," said Mr V. P. Shetty, Chairman & Managing Director, IDBI Ltd and Chairman, Indian Banks' Association.

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