Foreign lender, Standard Chartered Bank plans to expand its SME arm. The bank has introduced a strong SME banking offering in this regard. The bank also plans to recruit for SME segment.

India is the first market where the bank is going to launch its SME banking offering. It will thereafter be followed by China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and UAE.

"The SME segment has grown at almost twice the rate of GDP in most markets, generating over $40 billion of revenues for the financial industry and are expected to grow at 10-12% per annum in our footprint across Africa, Asia and the West Asia," said Subroto Som, Global Head, SME Banking, Standard Chartered.

"We are targeting to grow at double the rate of the industry and double our global market share to make it a multi-billion dollar business in the next three to four years." he said.

Rakesh Singh, general manager, SME Banking India, Standard Chartered Bank, said, "The bank is growing its SME portfolio at 30-35%. Currently the bank has 70,000 SME clients, with over $2 billion of advances and $1.3 billion of deposits,".