Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)

SIDBI lends for machinery directly, without a bank in between. EXPRESS is the quick route: it is assessed automatically from your GST returns, income tax returns, bank statements and CIBIL score, and gives an in-principle offer straight away. SPEED is the larger one, covering plant, machinery and miscellaneous fixed assets, and it allows second-hand or refurbished machines under standard guidelines.

What you get

• A term loan at an MCLR-linked rate, with security partly in the form of a fixed deposit
• On EXPRESS, an automated assessment and an immediate in-principle offer
• On SPEED, a longer repayment period with a moratorium

Who can apply

• EXPRESS: MSME units in operation for at least three years, with Udyam and GST registration, and no defaults to banks or financial institutions
• SPEED: MSMEs with at least three years of operation, cash profit in the last three financial years, and no defaults to banks or financial institutions

How selection works: this is a credit decision, not a cohort. EXPRESS is scored automatically from your filings and credit record; SPEED is appraised against your accounts and the asset being bought.

How to apply: use the Apply Now button on SIDBI's machinery loan page, which opens its online loan application, or go through a branch office.

Three products sit under project funding. ARISE finances expansion, modernisation or technology upgrading in the same line of business. Ubharte Sitaare is for export-oriented MSMEs and comes with mentorship and technical assistance, a milestone-linked interest incentive, and the option of joint financing with EXIM Bank. STHAPAN is the one direct SIDBI product built for a new unit.

What you get

• A term loan covering land and factory building, plant and machinery, other fixed assets, rooftop solar and energy efficiency equipment
• On Ubharte Sitaare, a rupee or foreign currency term loan plus mentorship support and an interest incentive tied to milestones
• Repayment over up to seven years with a moratorium of up to two

Who can apply

• ARISE: minimum two years of operations with audited accounts, cash profit in the last audited results, and no defaults to banks or financial institutions
• Ubharte Sitaare: existing or fundamentally strong export-oriented small and mid-sized companies, or new units whose promoters have experience in a similar line of business, with a strategic market entry plan for international markets
• STHAPAN: new or greenfield units, with promoter experience of three years in a similar line of business for smaller loans and five years for larger ones

How selection works: appraisal of the project, the promoter's track record and the accounts, as a lender would.

How to apply: use the Apply Now button on SIDBI's project funding page, which opens its online loan application.

SIDBI offers working capital directly, and lets you choose which partner bank's platform runs the account. There are three products. The main working capital facility is a single window for term loan customers who also need working capital. SWIFT is an overdraft with a paperless digital journey. STEP is a working capital term loan for topping up net working capital or executing urgent confirmed orders.

What you get

• A working capital facility at an MCLR-linked rate, on a bank platform you choose from IDBI Bank, City Union Bank or Yes Bank
• On SWIFT, a paperless in-principle offer and no monthly or quarterly stock, book-debt or QIS statements, with a low processing fee
• On STEP, a short term loan with a moratorium of up to six months

Who can apply

• Working Capital: new and existing entities that do not already have a working capital facility from another bank or financial institution, with no defaults to banks or financial institutions
• SWIFT: existing entities with three years of operations, not already holding a working capital or overdraft facility elsewhere
• STEP: minimum three years of operations, or two for an existing SIDBI customer, with operating profit in the past two years, or one year for existing customers

How selection works: a credit assessment of the business and its banking record.

How to apply: use the Apply Now button on SIDBI's working capital page, which opens its online loan application.

Two of the four facilities on SIDBI's green finance page are loans you can apply for. The Green Finance Scheme is a rupee or foreign currency term loan for businesses in the green value chain. The End To End Energy Efficiency scheme funds the capital spending behind an efficiency upgrade.

The other two are not for you to apply to. The Electric Vehicle Risk Sharing Facility, run with Shell Foundation, and the municipal solid waste facility, run with the NAMA Facility and GIZ, are guarantees given to banks and NBFCs so that they will lend to MSMEs in those areas. They have no published eligibility criteria and no application form; the page asks lenders and MSMEs to write to SIDBI's green finance vertical instead.

What you get

• A term loan in rupees or foreign currency at an MCLR-linked rate
• Cover under risk sharing facilities such as CGTMSE where applicable
• On the 4E scheme, funding for equipment, installation, minor civil works and commissioning

Who can apply

• Green Finance Scheme: manufacturing and service providers including RESCOs, ESCOs, EPCs and vendors, and MSMEs on either the supply or demand side of the green value chain, working in energy efficiency, renewable energy, compressed bio gas, water and waste water management, solid waste management or e-mobility
• End To End Energy Efficiency: MSMEs in manufacturing or services with at least three years of operations and cash profits, which must establish the energy efficiency or emissions reduction and comply with SIDBI's environmental and social framework

How selection works: a credit appraisal, plus evidence of the efficiency or emissions benefit on the 4E scheme.

How to apply: use the Apply Now button on SIDBI's green finance page, which opens its online loan application.

The Fund of Funds for Startups was announced in January 2016 under the Startup India Action Plan and is managed by SIDBI on behalf of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. SIDBI has also been named implementing agency for Startup India Fund of Funds 2.0, which came into force on 13 April 2026.

It is important to be clear about how this reaches a company. SIDBI puts money into Alternative Investment Funds registered with SEBI. Those funds then invest in startups on their own terms, and must invest at least twice what they take from SIDBI into startups. A startup has no application route here at all. If you want this capital, you raise from one of the funds SIDBI has backed.

Who can apply

• Funds registered as Category I or II Alternative Investment Funds with SEBI, or that have applied to SEBI
• Funds below the stated corpus ceiling
• Funds whose investment strategy includes investing in startups as the Government of India defines them
• Funds that agree to invest at least twice the contribution they seek into startups
• Fund managers with a prior track record in fund management or prior investment experience, whose key members meet a minimum credit score and are legally eligible to hold a directorship or managerial position under Indian law

How selection works: applications go to a Venture Capital Investment Committee made up of venture capital experts from several industries. SIDBI states that meeting the criteria does not guarantee a sanction; each case is decided on merit after the application is submitted.

How to apply: funds apply through SIDBI's separate fund application portal, linked from its Fund of Funds site.

PRAYAAS helps micro-entrepreneurs move from sustenance to enterprise level. SIDBI states its objective as making affordable credit available to informal micro-entrepreneurs and micro-enterprises for their livelihood enterprise promotion, and it operates across the country.

You do not apply to SIDBI for it. The scheme is delivered door to door by partner institutions, who collect the application information, handle digital documentation and manage collections, with a Prayaas app and portal behind them. Partners include business correspondents, microfinance institutions, self-help promoting institutions, NBFCs and fintechs, as well as corporates and aggregators.

How to apply: through a partner institution in your area. SIDBI publishes no direct application route for this scheme.

This scheme belongs to the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, and aims to boost domestic manufacturing, import substitution and export competitiveness in telecom and networking equipment. SIDBI is its project management agency: it runs the delivery and the application portal, which sits on SIDBI's own Udyamimitra platform.

The eligibility conditions, the incentive rules and the application windows are the Department's, not SIDBI's, and SIDBI does not restate them on its own page. Read the Department's scheme guidelines before applying.

How to apply: through the scheme's portal, which SIDBI operates.

This scheme belongs to the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers. SIDBI is its project management agency and runs its application portal on the Udyamimitra platform. SIDBI is separately project management consultant for the same Department's scheme for strengthening the pharmaceutical industry, which supports existing pharma clusters and MSMEs through three sub-schemes covering common facilities, technology upgrading, and promotion and development.

As with the telecom scheme, the eligibility and the rules are the Department's. SIDBI does not publish them on its own page.

How to apply: through the scheme's portal, which SIDBI operates.

Most of what SIDBI does never touches a business directly. It provides institutional finance to primary lending institutions — banks, NBFCs and microfinance institutions — for onward lending to MSMEs.

This entry is here so the picture is honest rather than because you can apply to it. If you borrow from a bank, a small finance bank, an NBFC or a microfinance institution, SIDBI money may well be behind your loan, but your counterparty is that lender and their terms are the ones that apply to you.

Who can apply

• Scheduled banks, under SIDBI's various refinance schemes
• NBFCs registered with the RBI as investment and credit companies, deposit taking or not, that finance micro and small enterprises, assessed in three tiers by external credit rating
• Microfinance institutions, which can also receive capacity building grants alongside a loan