On RSS-affiliated industry body's complaint, FM Sitharaman reviews COVID-19 package
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 15
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on Monday, held a review meeting with private bankers and non-banking finance companies following complaints of tardy implementation of the Rs 3-lakh crore credit scheme for the MSME sector.
The RSS-affiliated industry body, Laghu Udyog Bharti (LUB), has complained that private banks had been slow in implementing the scheme.
“Hence, they are required to be immediately instructed to implement the scheme,” Laghu Udyog Bharti general-secretary Govind Lele had told Sitharaman on June 8.
Also read: Ensure effective rollout of Rs 3-lakh crore ECLGS for MSMEs: FM to pvt banks
The main grouse against private banks is that they were giving preference to high-value loan accounts. The industry also wanted the inclusion of non-scheduled cooperative banks in the scheme as they also held a large number of the MSME loan accounts.
The outfit called the Rs 3-lakh crore Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) for the MSME sector insufficient adding that public sector banks, namely the State Bank of India and the Bank of India, have been in the forefront in sanctioning loans under the scheme, although the actual disbursements were still low.
The Government has maintained close links with the Laghu Udyog Bharti. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was the chief guest at its last annual conference in Nagpur, which was also attended by several Cabinet Ministers including Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goel and Santosh Gangwar.
