Small and medium scale industries in the country create significant employment opportunities for individuals. The SME sector is the driving force of the economic development of our country. Financial institutions like NBFCs and banks create an ultimate platform for providing financial stability for SME to avail funds for their financial requirements.

Digitalisation is the new normal now. Everyone and everything is digital now, and individuals accept the digital India movement and adapt themselves towards it. When you are an SME owner who requires funds to fulfil their financial needs, a small business loan is the best option for you.

When you follow the eligibility criteria and steps to apply, you can easily avail a business loan for fulfilling your financial requirements and uproot your business. The business loan process is straightforward and will require minimal documentation process and flexible repayment and tenure options.

What Is a Small Business Loan?

A Small Business Loan is a credit that you can get from financial providers for fulfilling your business financial needs. When you apply for a loan, you must provide your business plan, and fulfil the eligibility requirements for the loan. When your loan gets approved, you will receive your loan amount directly to your bank account.

Benefits Of A Small Business Loan:

Whatever might be your business needs like Digital Marketing, you can avail a small business loan to avail financial assistance for your business requirements. Here are the benefits of a small business loan that makes it the best loan for fulfilling your business financial needs:

• Reasonable interest rate
• Affordable loan amounts
• Flexible loan tenure
• Easy repayment schedules
• Flexible repayment options
• Minimal documentation
• Quick cash disbursal

What Are The Eligibility Needs For Obtaining A Small Business Loan?

A financial provider will prioritise your needs and fulfil your financial requirements. But the primary thing that you must do is meet the loan eligibility criteria to avail the business loan amount. Each financial provider will have different eligibility requirements that you have to fulfil for availing for a small business loan.

Here are a few standard criteria that you should fulfil like:

• Loan applicant age should be between 23 – 65 years of age.
• Applicants must provide ITR filings for previous years.
• Minimum business turnover should be Rs.10 lakhs.
• Applicant's business should be at least two-three years old.
• Applicant's business should be incurring profits for two years now.
• NGOs and charities cannot apply for this loan.
• Applicants should legally register their business to avail this loan.
• Business and personal CIBIL score should be good.

When you fulfil all the eligibility requirements, you can quickly get your loan approved.

Does A Small Business Loan Require Collateral?

Each loan type and the financial provider is different and has different loan requirements. When it comes to collateral for a small business loan, it will depend on many factors like:

• Financial provider
• CIBIL score
• Loan amount
• Business market

Depending upon all these factors, the financial provider will analyse and approve your loan. If you understand all these, you can find out whether you need to provide collateral for the loan or not. Also, depending on the collateral, the interest rate for your loan varies. When you opt for a secured loan, your interest rate will be lower than that of an unsecured loan.

How To Avail A Small Business Loan?

When you require finances for handling your business requirements, you don't have to worry about tedious formalities. It is effortless and straightforward that will not take much of your time and energy. Each business will have different working capital requirements, and you should analyse your needs well.

When you understand things better, you will get an idea of how much money you will need as a small business loan amount. If you have calculated all your needs accurately, you will not have to worry about the loan, and you can get your loan quickly approved. Make sure to get your business plan ready, and it should have details about your business, its needs, funds required and how you are planning on repaying it.

Here are the significant steps that you should follow to apply for a small business loan easily:

Fulfil The Financial Provider's Requirements:

Each financial provider will have different eligibility requirements that you have to fulfil for availing your small business loan from them. Make sure to analyse the financial providers and filter them out depending on the eligibility criteria that you satisfy to make it easier for you. Both banks and NBFCs offer you options to avail for a small business loan; you should filter out the best to benefit from it.

Submit The Necessary Documents:

Each financial provider will have different eligibility requirements when you satisfy their eligibility criteria your loan process starts. A small business loan will have the documentation process where you submit proofs related to your business, revenue, CIBIL score and other important things. You should check with your financial provider regarding their document needs and fulfil it to get your loan quickly approved.

Here are the standard documents that you should submit to the financial provider to avail your small business loan:

• Address proof
• Resident proof
• Business registration proof
• PAN card for business purpose
• Bank statement
• ITR filing reports for the past three years
• Partnership or proprietorship bonds

Now with online loan application processes, everything has become very simple, you can easily upload the proofs in a PDF or word format in the financial provider's website for easy verification and processing of your loan.

Things To Know Before Availing A Small Business Loan:

Each loan process is different and has different requirements. There are detailed things that you should understand before applying for a small business loan that we can understand about below:

• Understanding the purpose of the loan:

Different businesses will have different needs for their loans. You should understand your business well to find out the purpose for which you need funds. Only when you analyse your needs, you can precisely pinpoint your requirements.

• Understanding your business loan costs:

When you filter out the purpose for your loan, you can find out the loan amount you will need for satisfying it. When you understand those costs, you can easily apply for a loan that provides fulfilment for your limit.

• Business loan amount:

With the expenses and returns from your business, you can find out the excess amount that you need to fulfil your requirements. With all the values, you can easily calculate the estimated loan amount you will want to borrow.

• Calculate collateral capacity:

Business loans play with more massive amounts, so when you don't have a good credit score, you won't get an unsecured loan. With a secured business loan, you should provide collateral that is of the capacity of your loan amount to get your loan approved.

• Research financial providers & loan options:

Many banks and NBFCs offer you with different small business loan options. But each option comes with other criteria and requirements, and you should analyse your needs and select the one that fulfils your requirements.

• Understand the values:

Interest rates and other charges that come along with the loan is also very vital, so make sure to talk to the financial provider clearly about everything before applying for your loan to avoid confusion.

• Prepare financial documents:

Documentation is another thing that you should get ready before applying for a loan. The process will become more comfortable when you have things ready before to avoid waste of time and energy during the loan process.

• Analyse if you can afford it:

The loan amount you borrow should be only what you need and what you can repay. Dependent on your needs, you can select the loan amount that you can afford. Excessing borrowing can put your collateral in danger and get you in debt.

When you understand all the above things, you can easily avail a small business loan with reasonable interest rate, flexible tenure and repayment options. Also, you can quickly fulfil your requirements and financial needs of your business.