RBI Governor asks banks to treat MSMEs as growth partners

RBI Governor Malhotra, speaking at International MSME Day 2026 in Kochi, urged banks to treat MSMEs as growth partners and invest in digital public infrastructure like the Account Aggregator framework, Unified Lending Interface and TReDS for faster, data-driven credit delivery. He called on lenders to accelerate priority sector lending, MUDRA and credit guarantee programmes, while emphasising relationship-based lending supported by digital data to expand sustainable financing.