India, Aug. 27 -- Department of Financial Services (DFS) Secretary Sanjay Lohiya has underscored the need to scale up lending to MSMEs in rural and semi-urban areas given the importance of the sector in the economy.

Speaking at a conclave organised by the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) on Tuesday, Lohiya said RRBs will also be able to achieve their goal of diversifying their loan portfolios by focusing on MSME lending, and rule engine-based underwriting is also expected to help them maintain good asset quality.

The conclave attended by Chairmen of all 28 Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), SIDBI CMD Manoj Mittal and other senior officials focused on expanding the SIDBI-RRB MSME Co-Lending arrangement, the finance ministry s...