Rs 54,604-crore ECLGS loans for FY22 guaranteed: Finance ministry

The Finance Ministry on Monday said Rs 54,604 crore worth of loans were guaranteed under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) for micro, small, and medium enterprises for FY22 till the end of February. This is down from Rs 1.57 trillion worth of loans guaranteed in 2020-21.

The number of guarantees issued stood at 2.16 million in 2021-22 against 9.04 million in 2020-21.

ECLGS was launched in May 2020 as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to combat the economic slowdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown.

In her 2022 Union Budget speech, Sitharaman had said: “The ECLGS will be extended up to March 2023 and its guarantee cover will be expanded by Rs 50,000 crore to a total cover of Rs 5 trillion, with the additional amount being earmarked exclusively for the hospitality and related enterprises.”

The data, tabled by Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad in the Lok Sabha, showed that in terms of the number of guarantees issued, most loans went to micro enterprises in both years (8.3 million and 2 million, respectively). However, in terms of the quantum of loans guaranteed, most went to small enterprises.

The data also showed that since the launch of the scheme, the maximum amount of loans guaranteed were in Maharashtra (Rs 28,735.67 crore), followed by Tamil Nadu (Rs 23,237.29 crore), Gujarat (Rs 20,472.31 crore), and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 14,920.18 crore).