Covid-19 second wave hits PSBs collection in May: Indian Bank Association

Indian Banks Association (IBA) Chairman Rajkiran Rai on Sunday said that the second wave of COVID-19 has impacted the collections of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) in the month of May.

"It is difficult to give numbers but can say that we faced difficulty in collections in the Month of May," Rai said during a media briefing.

Replying to a question on the impact of the second wave on collection in Equated Monthly Installment (EMI) of Home Loan, Personal loan and payment of credit card bills when compared with the first wave, R Rai said, "We have seen some substantial improvement in the month of April 21 against April 2020, but we are witnessing the impact on the collection of banks in the current month of May."

"It is difficult to give numbers as there is some time for month closing but can say that we are facing difficulties in collections in May month and we offering the available reconstructing scheme to customers," he said.

He said that the government has announced the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) of Rs 3 lakh crores for MSMEs last year.

"Out of Rs 3 lakh crore of ECLGS for MSMEs Rs 2.54 lakh crore is disbursed to date. Still, there is a window available for roughly, Rs 45,000 lakh crore," he added.

Dinesh Khara, Chairman, State Bank of India said that in April 2020, the businesses of banks were totally washed out. "As compared to last year this time the situation is better. It is too early to assess the impact of COVID19 on business as a whole for the year going forward," he said.

The IBA also joined hands with SBI to announce three products that have been designed to provide fresh lending support to tackle the pandemic.

Dinesh Khara, Chairman, SBI, Rajkiran Rai, Chairman, IBA, and Sunil Mehta, Chief Executive, IBA addressed a joint press conference to announce the various support measures and launch of new loan products by all Public Sector Banks to mitigate the impact due to resurgence of Covid pandemic.

A joint statement by SBI and IBA said that while the economy had revived well from the beginning of the 4th quarter of FY21, its resurgence since April 2021 has impacted the lives of individuals, and the cash flows of businesses and MSMEs.

The IBA and SBI jointly announced three products that have been designed to provide fresh lending support to vaccine manufacturers, hospitals or dispensaries, pathology labs, manufacturers and suppliers of Oxygen, Ventilators, importers of vaccines and Covid related drugs logistics firms and patients for treatment.

The first on the list is Healthcare Business Loans for setting up oxygen plants under ECGLS. Loan up to Rs 2 Crores capped at 7.5 per cent for hospitals, nursing homes for setting up oxygen plant, backed by 100 per cent guarantee cover of NCGTC under ECLGS 4.0.

The second product is Business loans for Healthcare Facilities upto Rs 100 Crores to set up or expand healthcare infrastructure and to manufacturers of healthcare products and the third product is unsecured personal Loans to individuals from Rs 25,000 to Rs 5 lakhs for salaried, non-salaried and pensioners for meeting Covid treatment.

Announcing these products, Khara said that PSBs have formulated templated approach for restructuring of loans with categories of upto Rs 10 lakhs, above Rs 10 lakhs and upto Rs 10 crores and above Rs 10 crores.