Google on Thursday joined hands with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to launch a $15 million (about Rs 110 crore) financial assistance programme, enabling micro-enterprises avail loans of Rs 25 lakh to Rs 1 crore at competitive interest rates.

The major focus under the programme will be on enterprises run by women entrepreneurs, with suitable interest rate concession also envisaged for such enterprises.

The programme aims to fulfill the credit needs of Indian micro-enterprises, helping them make investments in their business operations, such as purchasing new machinery and equipment, production infrastructure, and working capital requirements," Google said in a statement.

Sivasubramanian Ramann, IA and AS, Chairman and Managing Director of SIDBI said on the sidelines of the seventh edition of the 'Google For India' virtual event,“This one-of-a-kind program brings a corpus of Rs 110 crores to small businesses and crisis response related to COVID-19 to reinvigorate the MSME sector in India. This also marks SIDBI’s launch of a paperless journey to its customers from onboarding to the disbursal stage,"

The programme will prioritise women-owned businesses and those engaged in the production of equipment for the country's fight against the pandemic.

"Collaborations between the government and industries will go a long way in reinforcing India's and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' mission. To achieve this, we must focus on skilling, talent development, and the capabilities India needs to become a significant digital economy player globally," said Union Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar at the event.