Multan, Pakistan – The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) had recently hosted a 2-day SME mela or event on January 25 to 26, where attendees visited the banks’ stalls to seek knowledge of SBP’s financing schemes and banks’ loan products.
The event was attended by officials and members of chambers of industry and commerce, associations of traders and women entrepreneurs, and SMEs clusters of Multan. Said attendees registered themselves at various bank’s stalls to express interest in concessional schemes, including 105 SMEs and women entrepreneurs who applied on the spot for financing under different SBP’s schemes and the Kamyab Jawan Program, a youth development program by the Pakistani government.
Muhammad Ashraf Khan, managing director at SBP Banking Services Corporation (SBP BSC), inaugurated the event and while giving his keynote address said that SBP is making all its efforts to enhance collaboration with the industry and chambers across the country to spread awareness of its credit schemes to boost their utilisation.
He also added that through the event, banks and the business community would be brought under one roof, providing an opportunity to micro, small, and medium enterprises to seek guidance from concerned officials of SBP and commercial banks about concessionary refinance schemes. He also encouraged those SMEs to apply under SBP’s SAAF that have strong business viability but do not have collateral to offer.
On day one of the Mela, participants were briefed about the key features of SME ASAAN Finance Scheme (SAAF) and PM Kamyab Jawan Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme. Under SAAF Scheme, collateral free financing of up to Rs10m is available through eight participating banks. Similarly, under Kamyab Jawan Scheme, concessional loans of up to Rs25m are available at end user rate of 3% to 5%. On the second day of Mela, participants were apprised about key features of SBP’s financing scheme for renewable energy and Mera Pakistan Mera Ghar (MPMG) Scheme.
