Deccan Chronicle

RBI unveils loan recast plan for individual­s, biz

- SANGEETHA G

Responding to the second Covid wave, the RBI announced a slew of measures on Wednesday, providing relief and liquidity to a large section of customers. It provided loan recast for certain individual­s and small businesses. A liquidity window of Rs 50,000 crore has been opened for healthcare companies and patients, while small businesses can avail of Rs

10,000 crore credit from small finance banks.

As far as loan recast is concerned, individual borrowers, small businesses and MSMEs having aggregate exposure of up to Rs

25 crore and who have not availed of restructur­ing under any of the earlier restructur­ing frameworks are eligible for loan restructur­ing under Resolution Framework 2.0.

This is the second restructur­ing scheme announced by the central bank in less than one year, with the first unveiled in August last year.

Loan recast under Resolution Framework 2.0 can be invoked up to September 30, 2021 and has to be implemente­d within

90 days after invocation. The beneficiar­ies had to be classified as standard accounts as on March 31,

2021.

In the case of individual borrowers and small businesses which have availed of loan restructur­ing under last year’s loan recast, their plans can be modified by increasing the

The situation has reversed from being on the foothills of strong economic recovery to facing a fresh crisis.

RBI will continue to monitor the situation, deploy tools at command to support businesses impacted by Covid.

Covid-19 situation has altered drasticall­y since March, India has been fighting a sharp rise in Covid cases in last few weeks.

RBI is committed to using unconventi­onal tools to tackle any Covidtrigg­ered stress.

To work with the government to ease stress faced by citizens. Will take big, small steps to tackle

period of moratorium or extending the residual tenure up to two years. Small businesses and MSMEs which have restructur­ed their loans earlier also can get their sanctioned working capital limits reviewed as a one-time measure based stress through the year.

RBI stands ready to keep financial conditions congenial, markets continue to work efficientl­y.

Global growth outlook highly uncertain, clouded with downside risk.

Data shows persistenc­e of input price pressures, normal monsoon forecast should help contain food price inflation.

Small borrowers, MSMEs, individual­s most vulnerable.

India mounted a valiant defence, domestical­ly and globally, to ramp up vaccines and medical support, and save lives.

Immediate objective is to save lives, restore livelihood­s.

on a reassessme­nt of the working capital cycle, margins and the like.

Later in a notificati­on, the RBI said individual­s who have availed of personal loans, loans for business purposes and small businesses, including those engaged in retail and wholesale trade, other than those classified as MSME, are eligible for the loan recast.

However, compared to the blanket loan moratorium given last year, the proportion of restructur­ed loans will be lower under Resolution Framework 2.0.

In order to provide further support to MSMEs and other unorganise­d sector entities, a special threeyear long-term repo operations (SLTRO) of Rs 10,000 crore at repo rate will be conducted for the small finance banks (SFBs). Under this, fresh lending of up to Rs 10 lakh will be provided per borrower. This facility will be available till October 31, 2021. SFBs are also permitted to lend to smaller microfinan­ce institutio­ns under priority sector lending. This facility will be available up to March 31, 2022.

"As in the recent past, the RBI will continue to monitor the emerging situation and deploy all resources and instrument­s..." said governor Shaktikant­a Das.

Taking the country’s healthcare infrastruc­ture into considerat­ion, RBI also announced an on-tap liquidity window of Rs

50,000 crore at the repo rate for healthcare infrastruc­ture and services companies till March 31, 2022.

The RBI has also decided on a second purchase of government securities for an aggregate amount of Rs

35,000 crore under G-SAP

1.0 on May 20. It had bought government bonds worth Rs 25,000 crore on April 15.

 ?? Shaktikant­a Das ??
Shaktikant­a Das

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