Small technology companies are included in preferential lending at a rate of no higher than 3% per annum

Small technology companies (STC) will soon be able to count on preferential lending at a rate not exceeding 3% per annum. To do this, MTK will be connected to the existing lending program for high-tech and innovative small and medium-sized businesses. The maximum loan size for “newbies” will be 1 billion rubles, which is twice as much as for organizations that are not MTK. The Ministry of Economy explains that the allocation of additional budgetary funds for subsidies to the program operator, the SME bank, will not require its expansion.

The Ministry of Economy proposes to extend the preferential lending program for high-tech innovative SMEs to small technology companies. A draft of the corresponding government decree providing for amendments to the rules for providing subsidies to SME Bank (a subsidiary of the SME Corporation) to compensate for lost income on loans provided in 2022–2024 is posted on the regulation.gov.ru portal.

The lending program for innovative small businesses launched in April 2022. SME Bank became its operator within the framework of the federal project “Takeoff – from startup to IPO” supervised by First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov. To date, he has been reimbursed 2.68 billion rubles, the Ministry of Economy told Kommersant.

The program provides lending at a rate of no higher than 3% for a period of up to three years. For MTCs connected to it, the maximum loan amount will be 1 billion rubles. (currently the program limit is 500 million rubles). “The need for financing for such companies, due to the size of the business (revenue can reach 4 billion rubles), is usually higher than for SMEs,” notes the explanatory note to the project.

Let us explain that earlier the Ministry of Economy, in accordance with the law on the development of technology companies coming into force on November 3, developed a procedure for classifying enterprises as MTC. Organizations with revenues of up to 4 billion rubles and operating under more than 60 economic activity codes will be able to apply for this status. Organizations from the Unified Register of final recipients of state support for innovation activities are automatically recognized by the Ministry of Transport and Communications. All MTCs will be entered into a special register, which will allow the state to formulate targeted support measures for them (see Kommersant-Online of September 13).

As the Ministry of Economy told Kommersant, the register of final recipients now includes about 9 thousand potential candidates for MTC, many of whom will be able to qualify for a preferential loan. The implementation of the initiative is planned from available budget funds. “Taking into account the fact that high-tech SMEs often de facto have all the signs of the MTK, the number of supported companies will not change radically. At the same time, the proposed changes will reduce the bureaucratic burden on organizations,” the Ministry of Economy noted.

The changes will allow participation in the MTK program with an average annual revenue growth rate of at least 10% over the last two years. As a rule, due to their size, such companies have already passed the stage of rapid development and it is difficult for them to ensure a higher growth rate, says the explanatory note to the project. According to the General Director of the SME Corporation, Alexander Isaevich, the extension of the preferential lending program to MTK will support enterprises that, while developing, go beyond the scope of SMEs, but still need financial government support.

Venera Petrova