TLI Staff
New Delhi: India Inc has hailed RBI measures to ease liquidity for small borrowers, on-tap liquidity window for bossing Covid related health infrastructure and restructuring of business loans.
Industry body Assocham said that the central bank’s targeted policy response and easy credit promised to the entire healthcare value chain including the vaccine manufacturers are the most apt measures at this point of time.
“The RBI has most correctly recognised how small businesses and financial entities at the grassroots are bearing the most considerable burden of the pandemic and has thus unveiled measures to help them,” the chamber’s Secretary General Mr Deepak Sood said in a statement.
“The measures include restructuring loans with exposure up to Rs 25 crore, treating lending to micro-financial institutions by small finance banks for further on lending to individual borrowers as a priority sector, and providing much-needed relief to sectors that are under maximum stress,” he added.
Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) India Chairman Mahesh Desai said that the steps announced by RBI would not only provide liquidity support to small borrowers but also boost confidence of the trade and business when second wave of pandemic poses downside risks to economic recovery.
“Over the last few months, India’s merchandise exports have shown an upward trend but the surge in new Covid cases has posed some downside risks. The relief measures announced by RBI for MSMEs should mitigate those risks, “ he added.
One of the key focus areas of the central bank was facilitating easy credit for entities in the health sector including vaccine manufacturers and suppliers of oxygen and ventilators. For this, an on-tap liquidity window of Rs 50,000 crore has been announced. This will help strengthen Covid infrastructure in the country and ensure that the impact of the second wave of the infection on the economy is minimal.
Another key support measure announced by the RBI was Resolution Framework 2.0 for Covid related stressed assets of individuals, small businesses and MSMEs. This is a major relief for small and medium players, noted Mr Desai.