Weekly news Snippet - Edition 35

I. MSME:

1.?Startup India Program:

India currently boasts approximately 1.16 lakh government-recognized startups under the Startup India program initiated by the government to enhance the country's startup ecosystem. As of 31st Oct, 2023, a total of 1,14,902 entities have been officially recognized as startups, highlighting the success of the program in fostering innovation, supporting startups, and attracting investments in the sector.1

2.?MSME and Large Industries:

There is a clear thrust of the government to increase the indigenous content in defence and aerospace sector to more than 70% in the next 3-4 years and this can only happen if the MSME sector contributes and works with the large industries as well as DRDO, said Samir V Kamat, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman, Defense Research & Development Organization (DRDO).2

3.?MSME Platform:

Godrej Capital is in the final stages of onboarding other smaller financiers onto its MSME ‘Nirmaan’ platform, and may eventually explore co-lending partnerships with these lenders, the company’s MD and CEO, Manish Shah said.3

II. Banking:

1.?Lending to Private sector:

Bank lending to the private corporate sector grew 14.9% in September 2023 from 14.7% a year ago, according to the Reserve Bank data released 1st Dec. Another set of banking data released by the central bank showed the share of term deposits bearing a 6 to 8% interest rate rose to 78.6% in September 2023 against 12.5% in March 2022.4

2.?Collaboration and Partnerships:

Union Bank of India has collaborated with Accenture to design and develop a scalable and secure enterprise data lake platform with advanced analytics and reporting capabilities. Using predictive analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence, this platform would?leverage structured and unstructured data from within the bank as well as from external sources to generate business-relevant insights, a bank official said.5

III. Finance:

1.?RBI Monetary Policy:

The Reserve Bank of India's Monetary Policy Committee (RBI MPC), on 08th Dec, kept the repo rate unchanged for the fifth time in a row at 6.5%. While making the announcement, RBI Governor, Shaktikanta Das, said that the decision was unanimous considering the country's current economic situation.6

2.?Data-based Lending:

Financial Services Secretary, Vivek Joshi, emphasized the shift from judgement-based lending to data-based lending for financial institutions in the medium term. He highlighted the crucial role of global Indian banks, with a footprint across continents hold immense significance in enhancing India's influence and attracting foreign investment.7

Bibliography:

1.??????? financialexpress.com/business/sme/startup-india-1-16-lakh-entities-recognised-as-startups-in-nearly-8-years-of-govts-initiative/3330401/

2.??????? economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/sme-sector/msmes-need-to-work-with-large-industries-drdo-for-defence-aerospace-sector-indigenisation-drdo-chairman/articleshow/105774026.cms

3.??????? thehindubusinessline.com/money-and-banking/godrej-capital-to-onboard-smaller-lenders-on-nirmaan-platform-explore-co-lending/article67604393.ece

4.??????? economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/banking/finance/banking/bank-lending-to-pvt-corporate-rises-14-9-pc-in-sep-rbi-data/articleshow/105663472.cms

5.??????? thehindu.com/business/union-bank-of-india-ropes-in-accenture-to-build-data-lake-platform/article67607923.ece

6.??????? business-standard.com/finance/news/rbi-monetary-policy-5-key-announcements-from-the-governor-s-speech-today-123120800308_1.html

7.??????? business-standard.com/finance/news/need-to-move-towards-data-based-lending-financial-services-secretary-123120801092_1.html