₹3L-cr credit facility will cover professionals, says Sitharaman

NEWDELHI: A ~3 lakh crore emergency credit facility targeted at small enterprises will now be extended to professionals such as doctors and chartered accountants as well to help them tide over the crisis triggered by the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday, warning that the timing of a full economic recovery is tough to predict when the pandemic is still to play itself out. The government estimates that around ~1 lakh crore of the facility would be used by the professionals.

“Some pockets are still under containment... decided by states, which is the right thing as states are better placed to judge [the ground situation]. We appreciate that,” Sitharaman said at an interaction with media in North Block. “But there are disruptions in the value-chain which is not just confined to raw materials. It also involves manpower [movement] and outsourcing of services. Hence,it is difficult to do an assessment [of a full economic recovery].”

She said migrant workers who had left the cities for their homes in the hinterland after the lockdown was enforced on March 25 to curb the spread of the disease were returning to work in one positive development for the economy. “Some of them [workers] have approached their employers... One-two industrial groups have made arrangements to bring them back,” she said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is getting regular feedback on the economic situation and the government is keeping all options open to facilitate a faster economic recovery, Sitharaman said. Even so, the government is cautious about overstating the green shoots of a recovery visible in the economy, she added.

Sitharaman said the ~3 lakh crore emergency working capital loan scheme meant for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMES) had attracted significant response and its scope has been expanded at the request of