Banks sanction over Rs 75,000-crore loans to MSMEs under credit guarantee scheme

The finance ministry on Monday said banks have sanctioned over Rs 75,000 crore loans so far under the Rs 3-lakh crore Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) for the MSME sector reeling under stress due to the coronavirus lockdown.

However, loans worth Rs 32,894.86 crore are disbursed under the 100 per cent ECLGS for the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), starting June 1.

The scheme is the biggest fiscal component of the Rs 20-lakh crore Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan package announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last month.

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"The total amount sanctioned under the 100% Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme by #PSBs and private banks stands at Rs 75,426.39 crore, of which Rs 32,894.86 crore has already been disbursed," Sitharaman said in a tweet.

The latest number released by the Finance Minitry comprises all 12 public sector banks (PSBs) and 16 private sector banks.

"Under the 100% ECLGS, the loan amounts sanctioned by Public Sector Banks increased to Rs 42,739.12 crore, of which Rs 22,197.54 crore has been disbursed," she said in another tweet.

Meanwhile, private sector banks sanctioned Rs 32,687.27 crore while disbursed Rs 10,697.33 crore so far.

It is to be noted that the RBI on Sunday said lending institutions should assign zero per cent risk weight on the credit facilities extended under the ECLGS to MSME borrowers.

On May 21, the Cabinet had approved additional funding of up to Rs 3 lakh crore at a concessional rate of 9.25 per cent through ECLGS for the MSME sector.

Under the scheme, 100 per cent guarantee coverage will be provided by National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC) for additional funding of up to Rs 3 lakh crore to eligible MSMEs and interested Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA) borrowers, in the form of a guaranteed emergency credit line (GECL) facility.

For this purpose, a corpus of Rs 41,600 crore was provided by the government, spread over the current and next three financial years.

The scheme will be applicable to all loans sanctioned under GECL facility during the period from the date of announcement of the scheme to October 31 or till an amount of Rs 3 lakh crore is sanctioned under GECL, whichever is earlier.

The main objective of the scheme is to provide an incentive to member lending institutions to increase access and enable availability of additional funding facility to MSME borrowers, in view of the economic distress caused by the COVID-19 crisis, by giving them 100 per cent guarantee for any losses suffered by them due to non-repayment of the GECL funding by borrowers.

All MSME borrower accounts with an outstanding credit of up to Rs 25 crore as on February 29, which were less than or equal to 60 days past due as on that date, i.e., regular, SMA-0 and SMA-1 accounts, and with an annual turnover of up to Rs 100 crore, would be eligible for GECL funding under the scheme.