Axis Bank Ltd.

Axis Bank Ltd. is a private sector bank founded in 1993 and headquartered in Mumbai. It operates 6,275 branches, with total assets of approximately Rs 1,656,962.61 crore on the latest published figures.

Axis Bank operates 6,275 branches with total assets near Rs 16.6 lakh crore, and it is the Member Institution whose CGSS material is in the best shape. Its scheme page is one of the very few anywhere, including several government-adjacent pages, that correctly states the current Rs 20 crore ceiling rather than the superseded Rs 10 crore figure, and it publishes guarantee fee guidance of 1 to 2 percent.

Its role in the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups. Axis Bank Ltd. is one of 40 institutions registered with the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company as a CGSS Member Institution (NCGTC MLI ID 49, classified as a private sector bank). Member Institutions are the lenders that actually extend credit under the scheme: you borrow from Axis Bank Ltd., and NCGTC guarantees Axis Bank Ltd. against your default. That guarantee is what allows the facility to be extended to a DPIIT-recognised startup without collateral, with cover of up to Rs 20 crore per borrower, being 85 percent of the amount in default on loans up to Rs 10 crore and 75 percent above that.

What this means in practice. A lender that has kept its own scheme page current after the May 2025 expansion is usually a lender whose credit team has actually worked the product recently, which is worth something when you are trying to avoid explaining a government scheme to your own banker. Ask for the small business or working capital desk and reference CGSS by name.

The terms are the bank's, not the scheme's. This is the point founders most often miss. CGSS fixes the guarantee, not the loan. The interest rate, tenure, moratorium, repayment schedule and how the Annual Guarantee Fee is passed through to you are all set by Axis Bank Ltd. under its own credit policy, and they differ materially between Member Institutions for an identical borrower. Nor does registration oblige Axis Bank Ltd. to lend: it appraises you on its normal credit standards first and applies the guarantee second. Approaching more than one Member Institution is almost always worth the effort.