HDFC Bank, India's leading private sector bank, as a part of its concerted strategy to build leadership and brand equity in the small and medium enterprises (SME) and the micro finance segments, has partnered with Mumbai-based Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research to introduce a niche course on SME Banking for students of the Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management.

The buoyant Indian economy and the growing consumer class are fuelling the growth of the SME segment in sectors such as hospitality, retail and health care delivery.

The 39-hour SME banking module, which got underway on 11 January with its first batch of 24 students, is India 's first-ever classroom and on-site training course for second-year management students.

The course curriculum has been jointly designed by HDFC Bank and Welingkar as per the requirements of the industry and the overall MBA programme. Students need to pass the 100 marks credit course on fundamentals of banking to be eligible for the SME banking course.

The faculty comprises of six officials from HDFC Bank, two from Welingkar and two SME business personalities who will present their individual case studies.

“The skill set and knowledge base required for the SME segment differ from those required for corporate or retail banking and are not easily available in the market,” explained Aseem Dhru, head, business banking, HDFC Bank.

Uday Salunkhe, director, Welingkar said, “Welingkar has always pioneered educational initiatives across different business verticals keeping the future industry needs and economy drivers.” The institute offers courses in Family Business, Commodities Market, Retail, Bioinformatics and has recently introduced the programme in Business Design. “We anticipate a huge demand from the industry for SME banking professionals,” he added.