Banks sanction over Rs 1 trn in loans to 300,000 MSMEs under credit scheme

The finance ministry on Tuesday said banks have sanctioned over Rs 1 trillion loans under the Rs 3-trillion Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) for the MSME sector reeling under coronavirus-induced economic slowdown.

While, Rs 45,860 crore is disbursed under the 100 per cent ECLGS for the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) till June 26, it said.

The scheme is the biggest fiscal component of the Rs 20-trillion 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan' package announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last month.

The latest number onECLGS, as released by the Finance Ministry, comprises all 12 public sector banks (PSBs), 20 private sector banks and 8 NBFCs.

"Under the 100 per cent ECLGS backed by a government guarantee, banks from public and private sectors have sanctioned loans worth over Rs 1 trillion as of June 26, 2020, of which more than Rs 45,000 crore has already been disbursed," the finance ministry said in a statement.

This would help more than 3 million units of MSMEs and other businesses restart their businesses post the lockdown, it said.

PSBs have sanctioned loans of Rs 57,525.47 crore, whereas private sector lenders have sanctioned Rs 44,335.52 crore under ECLGS, which started on June 1, it said.

As on June 26, public sector banks have disbursed Rs 29,232 crore and private sector peers Rs 16,628 crore.

The top lenders under the scheme are State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank and HDFC Bank, it added.

Market leader SBI has sanctioned Rs 19,593 crore and disbursed Rs 12,026 crore as on June 26. It is followed by Bank of Baroda with a sanction of Rs 7,273 crore and disbursement at Rs 2,695 crore.

The second largest lender Punjab National Bank was at the third spot, as per the data, with the cumulative sanction of Rs 7,188 crore. Its disbursement was nearly one-third at Rs 2,125 crore.

State-wise, business units of Maharashtra have got the highest cumulative sanction of Rs 6,179 crore from banks, while disbursement was to the tune of Rs 2,774 crore at the end of June 26.

It is followed by Uttar Pradesh with a sanction of Rs 5,646 crore, with disbursement of Rs 2,861 crore.

On May 21, the Cabinet had approved additional funding of up to Rs 3 trillion at a concessional rate of 9.25 per cent through ECLGS for the MSME sector.

Under the scheme, 100 per cent guarantee coverage will be provided by National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC) for additional funding of up to Rs 3 trillion to eligible MSMEs and interested Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA) borrowers, in the form of a guaranteed emergency credit line (GECL) facility.

For this purpose, a corpus of Rs 41,600 crore was provided by the government, spread over the current and next three financial years.

The scheme will be applicable to all loans sanctioned under GECL facility during the period from the date of announcement of the scheme to October 31 or till an amount of Rs 3 trillion is sanctioned under GECL, whichever is earlier.

The main objective of the scheme is to provide an incentive to member lending institutions to increase access and enable availability of additional funding facility to MSME borrowers, in view of the economic distress caused by the Covid-19 crisis, by giving them 100 per cent guarantee for any losses suffered by them due to non-repayment of the GECL funding by borrowers.

All MSME borrower accounts with an outstanding credit of up to Rs 25 crore as on February 29, which were less than or equal to 60 days past due as on that date, i.e., regular, SMA-0 and SMA-1 accounts, and with an annual turnover of up to Rs 100 crore, would be eligible for GECL funding under the scheme.