Banks ready to work with states to give relief: Mitra

Kolkata: The State-Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) in a meeting chaired by finance minister Amit Mitra has decided to extend some sops like restructuring the existing loans and increase in the repayment period as well as enhancing credit facilities to some sectors such as agriculture, MSMEs, fisheries, animal resources, food processing, self-help groups and exports, which has been affected by Covid-19 lock down. The meeting was also attended by Punjab National Bank CEO Mallikarjun Rao. Mitra said that the banks have agreed to work with the state governments closely to provide relief to these sectors.According to SLBC officials, for agriculture it was decided to extend he coverage of Kishan Credit Card to Rs 46 lakh farmers. The quantum of kharif loan will be increased from Rs 4,400 crore to Rs 10,000 crore.For MSME sector, SLBC has said that RBI would be requested by the state to increase the credit limit of MSME to 30% from 10% earlier decided by the apex bank. It was also added that credit disbursement to MSMEs would also be enhanced from the current level. In 2019-20, total disbursement to MSMEs was Rs 74,000 crore. The fresh target for the current fiscal was pegged at Rs 90,000 crore.SLBC has also decided to form a new sub-committee for food processing industry in the state. The sub-committee will submit their report to SLBC in the next three days.