India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) and the Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) entered into a partnership to promote the extension of formal financial services and other support services to MSMEs, with a special focus on enterprises in rural and remote areas of the country.
The partnership aims to leverage IPPB’s rural reach and deep connect with village-level communities and Sidbi’s lending and credit risk assessment models in reaching informal and micro-enterprises in rural and remote areas as may be permitted under the extant regulations.
IPPB will also support Sidbi’s customers in digitising the payment mechanisms through its merchant onboarding system and collection solutions like UPI, QR-based solutions, etc. The two institutions will also undertake joint programs to upgrade the skills of Dak Sevaks in supporting credit and other services to micro-enterprises.
They will jointly work together to identify other areas of mutual interest and undertake various activities to support MSMEs and MSME ecosystems across the country with a special focus on informal micro-enterprises.
Along with the signing of the MoU, announcements were also made for organising a hackathon involving the Fintech community for innovation in financial services in rural areas as well as a Swavalamban Challenge Fund to promote rural livelihood enterprises.