The government of India (GOI) has laid thrust on the financial inclusion of those excluded in the development process. In the recent past, the government has introduced various schemes to evolve entrepreneurial India with a special focus on the Micro small and medium enterprises (MSME). Some of these schemes are Start-Up India, MUDRA, Stand Up India Make in India and Digital India. It has been felt to have a mechanism to link potential entrepreneurs with these
introduced initiatives and providing handholding especially in the area of credit, to begin with, and later in the related areas lie technology, skill, and marketing, etc. Let’s further discuss Certified Credit Counsellors.
Access to credit and handholding services are one of the key challenges being faced by the MSMEs. To address the issue, an institutional arrangement in the name of Certified Credit Counsellors (CCC) has been put in place under a framework laid down by the Reserve Bank of India. The scheme was launched by the Deputy Governor RBI on July 11, 2017. The role of Implementing and Registering the authority under the scheme is assigned to SIDBI to spearhead the initiative. Indian Institute of Banking and Finance IIBF) has been identified as Certification Agency and the services of CCCs shall be rendered through www.udyamimitra.in portal.
CCCs are a system of professional / counseling for MSMEs, which could help bridge the information gap and help banks to make better credit decisions. They can recommend the bank’s business proposals prepared by them. SIDBI has formulated the operational guidelines and hosted it on the udyamimitra portal, including FAQ.
The existing and potential entrepreneurs may avail of the services of the CCCs. The services shall be in the area of application filing, project report preparation, credit counselling, monitoring, access to subsidy support, etc. The names of the qualified CCCs shall be available in the portal and the loan aspirants can choose any based on their ratings given by the previous receiver of services. CCCs can charge a reasonable fee from the loan aspirants subject to a maximum allowed from time to time and mentioned in the portal. The bankers too shall be benefited in various ways. They will get the applications after preliminary scrutiny is done. Hence the applications shall be duly filtered based on the bankability of the proposals. The bankers will gain confidence as they will be in a position to make informed credit decisions. The sanctions will be faster and the potential entrepreneurs shall be encouraged to undertake the manufacturing and other commercial activities including services as they shall be able to access the financial system channel with greater ease and flexibility.
The following shall be the functions of a CCC:
- Identification of aspirant entrepreneurs;
- Preparing the application along with all the desired documents and information
- Verification of the primary information/data collected.
- Guiding and creating awareness about the schemes and facilities available.
- Processing and submission of applications online /offline to banks or financial institutions.
- Assisting in obtaining documentation, security charge creation and finally loan disbursements.
- Post-sanction monitoring
- Assisting in obtaining subsidy, if applicable.
