Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the government will infuse Rs 70,000 crore in public sector banks upfront, possibly within the next week, and will fast-track clearance of government due to companies, something that can drastically reduce the bad debt in banks’ books and free up more capital.
The original plan was to infuse this money in three years.
The capital infusion, ahead of the festive season, will boost banks’ lending capacity by an additional Rs 5 trillion. The capital would also help banks boost their capital adequacy and make them more confident in resuming normal lending activities.