State Bank of India (SBI) on Friday said it has sanctioned loans worth Rs 74,434 crore to 2.25 lakh micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through its SME Digital Business Loans platform within just 15 months of launch.
The platform, introduced in June 2024, allows MSME entrepreneurs to apply online for credit up to Rs 5 crore. The fully digital process enables sanctioning of loans within 45 minutes, marking a significant leap in SBI’s digital lending capabilities.
“Since the launch of the digital journey, the bank has processed 2.25 lakh SME digital loans with aggregate credit limits of Rs 74,434 crore till August 2025. This includes 67,299 MSME Mudra loans worth Rs 3,242 crore,” SBI said in a statement.
The initiative aligns with SBI’s strategic focus on MSME advances as a key driver of growth and profitability over the next five years. The SME Digital Business Loans platform leverages advanced technology and a network of APIs to streamline the lending process, ensuring faster turnaround and enhanced efficiency.
SBI said the credit assessment engine uses authentic data footprints from sources such as income tax returns, GST filings and bank statements to evaluate borrowers’ creditworthiness. Remarkably, sanction decisions can be made within 10 seconds of submitting the necessary details — completely eliminating human intervention.
The digital loan product also replaces traditional credit underwriting with a data-driven, cash flow-based approach that gives due weightage to borrowers’ financial discipline. For loans up to Rs 50 lakh, SBI has waived the requirement for financial statements, relying instead on transaction history and GST data for appraisal. |
