Our Bureau Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday reviewed the readiness of banks in implementing the over ₹20-lakh crore Atmanirbhar relief package.
The government is relying heavily on the public sector banks to deliver the goods when it comes to implementation of this package.
In her video conference with chief executives of PSBs, Sitharaman is reported to have underscored the need for banks to do some heavy lifting for the successful implementation of the stimulus measures.
The discussions centred around the MSME measures, farmer-friendly agriculture reforms, RBI liquidity push besides the sectoral initiatives around housing, aviation and social sector benefits such as viability gap funding.
This meeting came on a day when the RBI further cut its repo rate by 40 basis points. The aspect of banks being asked to push credit and lend more to help economic revival also figured in the discussions, it is learnt.
On their part, bank chiefs said they were aligned on the need for quickly addressing the needs of MSMEs and other customers.
The Finance Ministry along with the banks are working on the implementation issues around the ₹3- lakh crore MSME loan support, ₹30,000-crore special liquidity window for NBFCs/HFCs and MFIs besides Extended Scheme for Partial Credit Guarantee to support NBFCs.