In Union Budget 2023-24, Union Finance Minister Mrs Nirmala Sitharaman announced the revamping of Credit Guarantee Scheme for Micro & Small Enterprises with effect from 01.04.2023, with an infusion of Rs 9,000 crore to the corpus to enable additional collateral-free guaranteed credit of Rs. 2 lakh crore and the reduction in the cost of the credit by about 1 per cent.

Consequent upon this, the following significant steps have been taken:

• The corpus of Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro & Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) has been infused with a sum of Rs. 8,000 crore on 30.03.2023.
• CGTMSE has issued guidelines regarding reduction of annual guarantee fee for loans upto Rs. 1 crore from a peak rate of 2% per annum to as low as 0.37% per annum. This will reduce the overall cost of credit to the Micro & Small Enterprises to a great extent.
• The limit on ceiling for guarantees has been enhanced from Rs. 2 crore to Rs. 5 crore.
• For settlement of claims in respect of guarantees for loan outstanding upto Rs. 10 lakh, initiation of legal proceedings will no longer be required.

CGTMSE created a new landmark by touching the milestone figure of approving guarantees worth Rs. 1 lakh crore during FY 2022 - 23.

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MJPS