SVC Bank’s medical loans up by 7% to `8.56 Bn
The prominent cooperative bank has special loan products - SVC MediEquip, SVC Chemist and SVC Hello Doctor - for the medical and health care fraternity:
The Ministry of Finance has expanded the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS). It has offered, amongst many other things, ECLGS 4.0 for onsite oxygen generation, wider coverage of ECLGS 3.0 and increase in tenor for ECLGS 1.0. Under ECLGS 4.0, 100% guarantee cover is provided to loans up to `20 million to hospitals/nursing homes/clinics/medical colleges for setting up on-site oxygen generation plants with interest rate capped at 7.5%. The validity of ECLGS has been extended to 30 September 2021 or till guarantees for an amount of `3 trillion are issued.
FOCUS ON MSME
RBI has advised cooperative banks to do higher proportion of lending in the priority segment of the economy. Ravinder Singh, Chief General Manager & Head - Corporate Banking at SVC Cooperative Bank, says the bank has accordingly increased focus on small ticket micro, small and retail segment not only to spread the advances portfolio but also to mitigate risk. It has maintained a healthy mix of MSME mid-corporate and large corporate segment business and retail business over the years, he adds.
QUALITY OF ADVANCES
The bank has realigned its credit policy to tackle the highly competitive market. Says Ravinder: “We have worked out region-wise strategies with a focus on loans and advances offtake and increase in yield. We have also been focusing more on quality of advances and an optimum mix of banking resources.”
LOANS THROUGH EMAILS
SVC Bank has also made efforts to expand its outreach through electronic and digital means. Ravinder says a large number of customers are applying for loans through emails. The bank is also using emails for faster communication and TAT. It is under process to finalize a digital partner for expanding its reach among micro & small customers. “We already have a robust net banking and mobile banking facilities for our customers. Core banking software is also being upgraded to suit emerging requirements,” he adds.
MEDICAL, HEALTH CARE CLIENTS
One of the bank’s focus areas has been the health care sector, which contributes to social infrastructure. Ravinder points out: “We have specially designed loan product schemes like SVC MediEquip, SVC Chemist and SVC Hello Doctor to target the clients from medical and health care segment by offering financial assistance to doctors, chemists, dispensaries, health care workers etc. In addition to that, we also provide customized loan assistance to nursing homes, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies to suit their requirements.”
SIGNIFICANT YOY GROWTH
The year-on-year growth in loans and advances given by SVC Bank to doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and chemists is significant.
Ravinder updates: “Our bank had 223 accounts, amounting to `7.53 billion in 2018-19 in all such loans. Our bank registered 24.66% growth in accounts, amounting to `8.02 billion in 2019-20 and 23.74% growth in accounts, amounting to `8.56 billion in 2020-21. Approximately 80% of these sanctions have been disbursed by the bank, which is an indication of our ‘connect’ with the customers.”
Appropriate healthcare financing is a means to ensure that adequate funds are allotted for health care, to provide equitable access to all population groups and to reduce financial barriers to utilize health services. Ravinder maintains that the bank is committed to help the health care sector in the current FY also to overcome the challenges from the continuous lockdown during testing times of pandemic by offering timely financial assistance at competitive rates.