Lockdown 2.0: Coronavirus-hit units get Rs 10,000 crore from banks

Banks have built internal capacities for assisting companies, including micro, small & medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Ahead of finalising the package for industries hit by Covid-19, the Union finance ministry reviewed support extended by large public sector banks (PSBs), including via the emergency credit line, to affected firms. State Bank of India (SBI) and Bank of Baroda (BoB) have together sanctioned close to Rs 10,000 crore as immediate credit assistance to the affected units. PSB executives said this was a regular review with top officials of large banks, including SBI. There was also discussion on working capital re-assessment.

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have built internal capacities for assisting companies, including micro, small & medium enterprises (MSMEs). Feedback from interactions is expected to act as an input for policies that are in works.However, it is not clear when the package would be finalised, officials said. A SBI executive said the bank is giving these emergency loans to those in need. It does not involve elaborate scrutiny. Only thing is that borrowers have to establish the Covid impact.

Covid-19 crisis: PM, FM to finalise details of second stimulus package soon

The stimulus package is expected anytime this week and will again be aimed at the urban and rural poor; disadvantaged sections of society; MSME sector; and some of the worst-affected sectors

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman are expected to meet soon to finalise the details of a second stimulus package to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on the economy, Business Standard has learnt. The meeting is also likely to be attended by senior officials from the finance ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office.

The stimulus package is expected anytime this week and will be aimed at the urban and rural poor; disadvantaged sections of society; micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs); and some of the worst-affected sectors. Late last month, Sitharaman had announced a Rs 1.7 trillion stimulus package, which included measures like free foodgrain and direct cash transfers for targeted beneficiaries, and an increase in wages under the employment guarantee programme.

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A senior government official said this would not necessarily be the last Covid-related stimulus package. A call on further measures will be taken later, and could even be announced after the lifting of the lockdown. The measures that are being finalised could include easier access to credit for MSMEs, and further cash and food transfers, sources said. “There is a proposal for another hike in MGNREGA payments,” an official said. To create some rural jobs, officials said the construction of rural roads during the lockdown period, with the help of MGNREGA workers, was being considered. The resumption of economic activity from rural areas, they said, was the safest bet since Covid-19 hotspots were mostly centered in urban or semi-urban areas…Read Here More

No stressed asset of MSME to be declared NPA till Mar 31, 2020: Sitharaman

State-owned lenders will hold meetings with Non-Banking Financing Companies–or shadow banks–and new retail customers in 200 districts till September 29 to explore giving credit

State-owned banks will not declare stressed assets of MSMEs as non-performing assets (NPAs) till March 31, 2020, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday, listing more measures to lift up the economy by ensuring credit. State-owned lenders will hold meetings with Non-Banking Financial Companies–or shadow banks–and new retail customers in 200 districts till September 29 to explore giving credit, she said at a press conference in Delhi.

Nirmala Sitharaman was speaking after holding a review meeting with public sector banks (PSBs) to discuss various issues, including follow up on transmission of monetary policy rates. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had earlier this month made it mandatory for banks to link all their fresh retail loans to an external benchmark effective October 1 and the central bank’s repo rate being one such benchmark. Following the move, banks such as Punjab National Bank and Allahabad Bank announced linking their retail loans with the RBI’s repo rate.

Sitharaman said the RBI had also issued a circular that provides for stressed loan accounts of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) not being declared non-performing assets (NPAs). She said banks have been asked to follow that circular…

Loan ‘melas’ are back: PSBs to hold credit meets in 400 districts, says FM

Stressed MSME assets will not be labelled NPAs till March 31, 2020

Public-sector banks (PSBs) will hold public meetings with borrowers for distributing loans in 400 districts of the country to boost demand ahead of the festive season, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Thursday.

In this, the banks will take help from non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government will be following the footsteps of its predecessor, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, which had introduced the concept of “loan mela” to boost credit by directing banks to lend to people through public meetings.

Further, the government has told PSBs not to declare stressed assets of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) non-performing assets (NPAs) till March 31 next year. This will come as a major boost to the sector with its 65 million firms employing around 120 million workers — the biggest job creation after the agriculture sector. The government is also considering a special dispensation for the farm and MSME sectors

PM Modi to head two new Cabinet committees on economy, employment

Apart from Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Commerce and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal are members of both the committees

To address the challenges of slowing economic growth and inadequate job creation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday constituted two Cabinet committees — one on investment and growth and another on employment and skill development. The PM will chair both the committees. A formal notification from the Cabinet Secretariat is expected on Thursday.

Apart from Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Commerce and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal are members of both the committees. The fifth member of the Cabinet committee on investment and growth is Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.

PM Modi to head two new Cabinet committees on economy, unemployment The government of India’s (transaction of business) rules, 1961, empower the Prime Minister to set up, add, reduce or modify the numbers and functions of cabinet committees. The PM did not create any new cabinet committee in his first term, but did scrap four by a cabinet secretariat order of June 26, 2014. Currently, there are eight Cabinet committees. These are on appointments, accommodation, security, economic affairs, investment, parliamentary affairs, political affairs and skill development. The last new cabinet committee — on skill development — was created by the Congress-led UPA government on June 10, 2013.

The four cabinet committees Modi scrapped in his first term as PM, on June 26, 2014, were those on management of natural calamities, prices, WTO matters and Unique Identification Authority of India. Some of their functions were subsumed in the existing cabinet committees, particularly the cabinet committee on economic affairs. Gadkari, who is also the cabinet minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) — a key ministry in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s 2019 Lok Sabha poll manifesto to boost job growth — is not in the 10-member Cabinet Committee on Employment and Skill Development formed on Wednesday.