51.4% of MSMEs assessed were first time borrowers: NeoGrowth Research

An exhaustive study by NeoGrowth Credit on a base of over 17,000 MSMEs across cities including Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Pune, Bengaluru, Lucknow, and Ahmedabad, revealed some interesting insights about the MSME industry.

Credit bureau scores have been traditionally used as a report card of one's credit history and repayment behavior. The lack of sufficient credit history or no credit history usually makes it difficult for the borrower to get loan approvals. According to NeoGrowth Research, over 51.4% of the MSMEs assessed were first-time borrowers

According to the Sixth Economic Census released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation in 2018, women constitute around 14% of the total entrepreneur base in India i.e. 8.05 million out of the total 58.5 million entrepreneurs.  10.8% of the total disbursements of the 17,000 MSMEs assessed for FY2019-20 were towards businesses that were run by women either as sole proprietors, partners, or directors.

The entrepreneurial ecosystem in India has been conventionally led by experienced players that have been reigning in their respective markets for generations. While first generation entrepreneurs are finally emerging in the scenario, they are starved of growth opportunities majorly due to a lack of credit. NeoGrowth Research establishes that about 77.6% of the MSMEs assessed were revealed to be first-generation entrepreneurs.

With digital connectivity growing rapidly and emergence of smart cities, Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities are the new business hubs, employment centres and consumer markets of the country. About 19% of the MSMEs assessed in the study, were originating from Tier-2 cities.

The Indian Government considers MSMEs and entrepreneurship as key to driving economic growth, innovation, job creation and social upliftment across the nation. By generating 120 million employment opportunities, MSMEs boast of being the second largest job creators in the country. As per the study, 28% of the MSMEs assessed showed an increase in the number of their employees’ post availing a business loan.

These insights form part of an annual assessment conducted by NeoGrowth. Dhruv Khaitan, founder and chairman, NeoGrowth said: “We are happy to share our Sixth Social Impact Report, an annual effort to engage with our key stakeholders – MSMEs, to understand their financial needs, challenges faced by them and assess the impact of lending activities on their lives. At NeoGrowth, we have always focused on creating strong positive social impact on MSMEs by lending to first generation entrepreneurs, assisting women entrepreneurs and enabling our customers in job creation and improvement of credit scores via our loans.”