Clusters are geographic regions with concenteration of MSMEs. "We have our branches in all the 38 identified clusters recognised by United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Union Ministry of MSME," said Dr. DK Lakshmisha, GM-MSME, State Bank of Mysore.

The bank disbursed loans worth Rs. 3,353.68 crore to micro, small and medium enterprises. The SBI associate bank also opened six specialized branches to meet the needs of small and medium enterprises (SME) clients.

Out of the nine credit processing cells for the SMEs across the nation, five are in the state of Karnataka. "We are in the process of opening more specialised SME branches this fiscal," added Dr. Lakshmisha

Online facilities to apply for loan is also available, and the bank is offering competitive interest rates on SME loans to cope up with the competition.

The bank has created a niche of its own by providing MSME loans upto Rs. 1 crore without any collateral, while the regulations mandate that loans upto Rs. 10 lakh should be offered without any collateral.