The two-day Banking and MSME Sector Conclave 2025, held in Pune and jointly organised by Sahakar Bharati, Arth Samvad, and the Global Indian Origin Network, emerged as a vital forum for charting the future of cooperative credit delivery to India’s vast micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector.
With over 300 participants, including cooperative bankers, CAs, technocrats, and first-generation entrepreneurs, the event spotlighted urgent reforms to bridge the financing gap faced by MSMEs.
The seminar underscored that MSMEs, which employ over 110 million Indians and contribute nearly 30% to GDP, remain underfunded due to outdated lending protocols that rely heavily on land-based collateral.
Sahakar Bharati’s Dinesh Gandhi opened the discussions by urging cooperative banks to adopt sector-specific financing strategies and modernise their processes in alignment with the government’s MSME export roadmap.
Entrepreneurs took centre stage during the conclave. Indraneel Chitale of Chitale Bandhu Mithaiwale said, “Young entrepreneurs spend more time chasing notarised documents than developing products,” pushing for digitised onboarding, centralised KYC, and faster disbursement mechanisms.
Vishwesh Kulkarni, Chairman of Yashaswi Group, stressed the potential of cooperative-led lending for skilling and employment-linked MSMEs, while Pravin Badhekar of Badhekar Group advocated for a centralised data exchange platform among cooperative institutions to avoid documentation redundancies and improve borrower traceability.
A key takeaway was the announcement of a sectoral working group that will develop voluntary lending guidelines for Maharashtra’s 300+ urban cooperative banks. The group will also explore project-monitoring dashboards, mentoring platforms, and a real-time appraisal tracker to fast-track credit to viable businesses. Its recommendations are expected before the festival credit cycle begins in October.
In an important policy framing session, delegates drew attention to the RBI’s treatment of real estate lending. While housing finance enjoys priority-sector benefits, commercial real estate, especially projects funded by both banks and buyers, is often excluded. Speakers called for more balanced risk-weight treatment and urged consultants to support genuine projects instead of merely flagging compliance gaps.
Wrapping up the conclave, Vidyadhar Anaskar, Chairman of Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB), delivered a powerful appeal: “We must rewire the DNA of MSME lending in co-operative banks. The obsession with collateral must end. Instead, let’s back projects with strong viability, robust cash flows, and vision. That is how we fuel India’s next cooperative-led growth story.”
