Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Social Fund for Development (SFD) Egypt and the World Bank, in the presence of Dr Mohamed Morsi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt who is on an official visit to India and Shri Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. SIDBI, set up in 1990 under an Act of Parliament, is the apex financial institution for the promotion, financing and development of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in India.

Under the MoU, SIDBI would not only help in income generation and employment creation in Egypt, but also provide much-needed boost to strengthen the ties between India and Egypt. Moreover, Egypt being the hub of Arab League, comprising 22 countries, SIDBI support has the potential to expand to other countries, thereby paving greater role of India in Western and Northern African (WANA) countries and the Middle East countries. SIDBI's initiative would also facilitate transfer of technology from India, as also enable Indian entrepreneurs to expand their business to Egypt and other countries in the region.

On this historic occasion, Mr Sushil Muhnot, Chairman and Managing Director, SIDBI, said, "The new business initiative is mainly to leverage the experiential learning of SIDBI accumulated over the years, as also in its associate / subsidiary organizations to help SMEs in other countries to grow in a competitive manner. Further, by creating an enabling eco-system in Egypt, SIDBI would facilitate access to finance to SMEs in Egypt".

Mr N K Maini, Deputy Managing Director, SIDBI who had earlier led the SIDBI team to Egypt for preliminary negotiations, said that the historical bond between the two countries would be further strengthened and the SMEs in Egypt would benefit immensely from the expertise developed by SIDBI in several areas. Further, keeping in view SIDBI's pre-eminent role in MSME financing in India, many other developing countries were also approaching SIDBI for consultancy assignments. In view of this increasing interest, the Bank had set up a separate vertical with a specialized team to handle international consultancy.

The proposed international consultancy project in Egypt would cover 5 important areas of Responsible Microfinance; Credit Guarantee Mechanism, Developing venture capital and risk capital eco system; Development of clusters and strengthening Risk Management and credit appraisal system for MSME loans.