State Bank of Hyderabad Managing Director M Bhagavantha Rao has sais that the bank will increase lending to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) next year. The bank is set to declare 2013-14 as MSME Year with a target to achieve 60 per cent growth in this portfolio.    

The bank, which has about Rs 6,000 crore under MSME portfolio now, is in the process of identifying new clusters for lending in this sector. The reasons behind renewed focus on MSMEs are viability, increasing focus of the Government on the sector and potential for employment generation, he said.    

In the corporate sector, credit off-take is still muted, he stated. New projects are down to a trickle and existing credit limit has touched almost zero. Rao expected the next quarter also to witness a similar trend. About 10-12 per cent corporate clients also preferred restructuring of loan accounts, Bhagavantha Rao said.