"To catalyse flow of bank credit to Micro and Small Enterprises, especially first generation entrepreneurs for setting up their MSE units without the hassles of collateral security and / or third party guarantee, the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) was set up by the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), Government of India (GOI) and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) in August 2000. CGTMSE operates the "Credit Guarantee Scheme" (CGS) which provides guarantees to Member Lending Institutions (MLIs) for credit facilities upto Rs.100 lakh extended by them to Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) which are not backed by collateral security and / or third party guarantee.

The progress of guarantee coverage under CGS has picked up during the past few years and the operations under CGS continued to grow in amount terms during FY2012, with a total of 2,43,981 guarantees for an amount of Rs.13,783.98 crore being approved during the financial year. Cumulatively, as at March 31, 2012, a total of 7,92,229 accounts have been accorded guarantee approval for Rs.37,139.31 crore and the number of MLIs availing the guarantee cover has gone up to 109 active MLIs. The Credit Guarantee Scheme has been successful to a large extent in encouraging collateral free lending to MSEs.

CGTMSE had the privilege of hosting the 24thAsian Credit Supplementation Institution Confederation (ACSIC) Conference during October 31 - November 04, 2011 in Goa, India with "Emerging Challenges in ensuring long term sustainability of Credit Guarantee Organisations" as the theme of the Conference.  The Confederation has 16 Credit Guarantee Organisations from 11 countries across Asia as its members This is the first time that CGTMSE and India hosted the ACSIC Conference.  The hosting of the 24th ACSIC Conference was an initiative with a view to adopt global best practises in credit guarantee organisations and was a prestigious event for CGTMSE.