SBI grants loans of ₹74,434 cr to 2.25 lakh MSMEs via digital means

New Delhi, Oct 10 (PTI) State Bank of India on Friday said it has provided loans worth ₹74,434 crore to 2.25 lakh MSMEs in less than one hour through SME Digital Business Loans platform in the last 15 months.

SBI launched 'SME Digital Business Loans' in June 2024 which enables the MSME entrepreneur to apply online for credit requirements up to ₹5 crore.

MSME advances have been identified as the focal point for the bank's growth and profitability over the next five years and this innovative product marks a leap forward in digitalisation by offering SMEs a digital loan journey with an end-to-end sanction turnaround time of up to 45 minutes.

SME Digital Business Loans leverages cutting-edge technology and a robust ecosystem of APIs to streamline the lending process, SBI said in a statement.

Utilising authentic data footprints from sources such as ITR, GST returns and bank statements, SBI has developed a data-driven credit assessment engine capable of providing sanction decisions within a remarkable 10 seconds after submitting the required details, without any human intervention, it said.

"Bank has processed a total number of SME Digital loans to the tune of 2.25 lac accounts up to August 2025 with aggregate credit limits of ₹74,434 crore since the launch of the digital journey. This includes the processing of 67,299 MSME Mudra loans amounting to ₹3,242 crore," it said.

The digital MSME loan product eliminates the need for traditional credit underwriting and lengthy appraisal processes, ushering in a new era of simplicity, speed and accessibility in MSME lending, it said.

It relies on cash flow-based lending giving due weightage to financial discipline aspects by the borrower, it said.

Notably, for loans up to ₹50 lakh, SBI has waived the requirement for financial statements, relying instead on transaction history and GST returns for appraisal, it said.