Amid reports that a private company Capita World was the biggest beneficiary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious loan-in-59-minutes scheme for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), SIDBI, the state-owned financial institution for developing and financing MSMEs, has clarified that the said company is a public sector enterprise.
Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a Diwali gift to India's large MSME sector, promising loans of up to Rs 1 crore in just 59 minutes, among various other measures. Firms that had registered for Goods and Services Tax (GST) could also avail a 2 per cent interest subvention on incremental loans of up to Rs 1 crore.
A dedicated portal psbloansin59minutes.com was also launched for the facilitation of these quick MSME loans.
Then reports started emerging that the company behind the portal was an Ahmedabad-based firm Capita World, that was only set up in 2015 and it had no revenues till 2016.
“A consortium of six public sector banks led by SIDBI held 56 per cent in the fin-tech company Capita World, which gave it a public sector character,” SIDBI has now said.
Capitaworld.com says, it is a new-age online fund-raising platform to transform lending experience for fund seekers that is businesses or individuals, the fund providers such as banks and non-banking finance companies and service providers like chartered accountants. Leveraging technology it offers online credit marketplace for various financial aspirations of individuals or businesses through corporate and retail loan products, it adds.
As per available details, SIDBI, Bank of Baroda and its subsidiary BOB Capital Markets, Indian Bank, State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Vijaya Bank, SIDBI Venture and SBI Card are among its key shareholders.
SIDBI said that a rigorous process was followed for short-listing and selection of of the platform and Capita World, including third party validations and oversight. It also added that four out of seven directors on the board of Capita World were public sector nominees.
Furthermore, concerns over the security of data have also emerged in the past few days, as the portal psbloansin59minutes.com seeks various details from loan seekers like GST and income tax-related details, including user IDs and passwords.
SIDBI has since issued clarifications that the portal does not ask for passwords, and the applicants can simply download the sighted documents and upload on the portal.
As per the frequently asked questions (FAQ) section of the portal, an existing business seeking to make an application would have to provide GST details including the GST identification number, GST user name and one time password, last three years of income tax returns, bank statements for the last six months, details of directors and partners, and details related to loan were required.
The portal further adds that the bank statements and details related to GST and income tax uploaded by the borrower are analysed real-time to provide required data to lenders, based on which the banker will take a decision on sanctioning the proposal.
