SBI, PNB lead PSBs’ tally in disbursing credit to Covid-hit MSMEs; this many units supported

Credit and Finance for MSMEs: India’s largest lender State Bank of India followed by Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India are the five leading credit lending public institutions to Covid-hit MSMEs under the Rs 3 lakh crore Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS), according to the government data. As on September 3, 2020, 12 public sector banks have cumulatively disbursed Rs 62,025.79 crore into 21,28,010 MSME accounts, as per the data tweeted by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s office on Monday. The overall credit disbursement including 24 private banks and 31 non-banking financial companies (NBFC) was Rs 1,13,713.15 crore into 24,70,312 MSME accounts. The share of private banks and NBFCs was Rs 51,687.36 crore disbursed into 3,42,302 MSMEs.

“Compared to 24 Aug 2020, there is an increase of Rs 5,022.06 crore in the cumulative amount of loans sanctioned and an increase of Rs 7,786.16 crore in the cumulative amount of loans disbursed by both PSBs and private sector banks combined as on 03 Sept 2020,” Sitharaman’s office tweeted. The update came four days after Sitharaman had met heads of banks and NBFCs to review the progress of schemes including partial credit guarantee and sub-ordinate debt apart from ECLGS.

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The Finance minister had also asked banks to launch the debt resolution or recasting schemes by September 15 for Covid-related stress among businesses. Sitharaman had stressed that the Covid related distress should not affect the lenders’ assessment of their creditworthiness as and when the moratorium on loan repayments is lifted. The Reserve Bank of India had last month permitted banks a one-time dispensation for recasting loans impacted due to the pandemic.

Among the top three states benefiting from the MSME credit guarantee scheme were Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. While lenders disbursed Rs 6,708 crores into 1,83,839 MSME accounts in Maharashtra, Rs 6,200 crore and Rs 6,150 crore were disbursed into 2,38,968 and 2,31,943 MSME accounts in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu respectively.