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She also said it is too early to say if there is a lack of demand for credit and announced a district-wise outreach to be undertaken by banks to help credit growth from October.
A push to credit growth from such outreach efforts will also help the momentum set by the stimulus packages, which have been extended by the government since the onset of the pandemic.
It can be noted that in late 2019, banks had conducted the “loan melas” in 400 districts to push up sagging credit growth.
Even now, the credit growth is stuttering at around 6 per cent.
“I think it is too early to conclude whether there is a lack of demand… I don’t think it is time yet to conclude that there is no credit pick-up. Even without awaiting indications, we have taken steps to ramp up credit,” Sitharaman told reporters here.
She noted that over ₹4.94 lakh crore was disbursed by the banks between October 2019 and March 2021 through the outreach initiatives undertaken by them. “This year too sometime in October, there will be a credit outreach in every district of the she said. Sitharaman added that the government had announced that credit up to ₹1.5 lakh will be given to borrowers through NBFC-MFIS. “In order to keep up the momentum of stimulus that we are periodically giving, we have also asked banks to go out and give credit,” she said. Meanwhile, Sitharaman said there is a need to ramp up credit growth in the eastern pockets of the country in states like Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Odisha, where the populations are displaying a higher propensity to deposit money in current and savings accounts.
Besides, the finance minister said banks have also been asked to look into the demands of the fintech sector.
The finance minister also hit out at the Congress, saying it is Congress that received “kickbacks” by selling resources such as land and mines. She reminded that the governments headed by the Congress raised ₹8,000 crore by monetising the Mumbai-pune expressway, and in 2008, it was the UPA government that floated the request for proposal to lease out New Delhi Railway Station. Recalling an incident where Gandhi tore off an ordinance he didn’t agree with, Sitharaman questioned why he didn’t tear off the RFP.