State Bank of India (SBI) has disbursed loans worth Rs 20,537 crore during the period April-December 2004 to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), registering a growth of 8.63 per cent over the corresponding period in the previous year.
These disbursements are not in accordance with the official definition of a small enterprise which is defined in terms of the investment in plant and machinery. The bank has used its own criteria for creditworthiness of SMEs, based on turnover, not investment limits.
A small enterprise is recognised as one with a turnover of up to Rs 1 crore by the bank. If the turnover ranges from Rs 1 crore to Rs 25 crore, it is termed as a medium enterprise. The medium enterprises come under the small business finance (SBF) categorisation of the bank while another category exists for small-scale industries (SSIs).
