Bank of Baroda

Bank of Baroda is a public sector bank founded in 1908 and headquartered in Vadodara. It operates 8,564 branches, with total assets of approximately Rs 1,971,175 crore on the latest published figures.

Bank of Baroda is one of the few Member Institutions that publishes a dedicated CGSS page on its own website, which tells you the product is a recognised part of its MSME lending menu rather than something a branch has to look up. It operates 8,564 branches with total assets of about Rs 19.71 lakh crore, and it carries one of the largest international footprints of any Indian bank.

Its role in the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Startups. Bank of Baroda is one of 40 institutions registered with the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company as a CGSS Member Institution (NCGTC MLI ID 19, classified as a public sector bank). Member Institutions are the lenders that actually extend credit under the scheme: you borrow from Bank of Baroda, and NCGTC guarantees Bank of Baroda 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. That international presence is the differentiator worth knowing about: if your startup earns in foreign currency, has an overseas subsidiary, or needs trade finance alongside a CGSS-covered working capital line, Bank of Baroda can usually keep the whole relationship in one place. Ask the MSME desk for CGSS by name and reference the bank's own scheme page if the branch is unfamiliar with it.

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 Bank of Baroda under its own credit policy, and they differ materially between Member Institutions for an identical borrower. Nor does registration oblige Bank of Baroda 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.