NGAP: Accelerating Growth for Small NBFCs in MSMEs Financing

 Small Industries Development Bankof India (SIDBI) and Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) have successfully completed the first cohort of the NBFC Growth Accelerator Programme (NGAP).  Recognising the critical role that smaller NBFCs play in financing MSMEs, particularly new and micro-enterprises, SIDBI and GAME joined forces to create NGAP.

NGAP Cohort 1 comprising 17 Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) was designed for NBFCs in their growth phase to understand the nuances of the sector, grow as leaders and shape a future-ready organisation through design interventions. This was achieved through a combination of experiential learning modules on risk management, governance, leveraging technology, staying ahead of industry trends etc; personalised mentorship from seasoned industry experts; providing opportunities for peer-to-peer learning & knowledge sharing; and an assessment of each NBFCs operational and financial health.

Also Read: "Empowering MSMEs Amidst Delayed Payment Challenges"

The five-month intense program has been designed to scale up small NBFCs through various design interventions, thereby facilitating and accelerating the flow of institutional credit to them. 

Empowering NBFCs: MSMEs Financing

Shri Sivasubramanian Ramann, Chairman and Managing Director, SIDBI, while elaborating on the vision of SIDBI has noted that, “The NGAP initiative is a significant step forward in empowering NBFCs to better serve the MSME sector and reiterated the commitment of SIDBI to nurture the financial entities that serve MSME sector, by equipping them with the tools and knowledge that they need to thrive.”  Shri Ramann highlighted the fact that there is a large pool of non-GST registered entities, which are not funded by Banks, and NBFCs should focus on meeting their unmet credit needs. SIDBI has been playing its part in the formalisation of such entities, with about 1.80 crore of Informal Micro Enterprises (IMEs) already registered on to the Udyam Assist Platform (UAP).

Ketul Acharya, President of GAME, informed that, “The success of the first edition of NGAP is in line with GAME’s mission of bringing together and supporting key stakeholders from all sectors to collaborate, lower systemic barriers and create favourable growth conditions for new and existing entrepreneurs.” 

Launched in October 2023, the programme is the first-of-its-kind initiative aimed at addressing the funding challenges faced by smaller NBFCs. With the success of the first cohort, SIDBI, with the support of GAME looks forward to empowering a larger pool of NBFCs to foster a more robust MSME ecosystem in India. 

Also Read: SIDBI: Leading MSME Sector Development and Financing