PSU banks disburse record Rs 2.5 lakh cr loans in October

As part of a government-mandated outreach programme, public sector banks disbursed a record Rs 2.5 lakh crore of loans during the festive month of October, the finance ministry said on Thursday.

In a bid to boost consumption and revive the economy, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had in September asked banks to reach out to customers and signal their willingness to lend following all prudential norms.

Under her direction, outreach camps or loan melas were conducted across 374 districts across the country during October 2019.

State-owned banks disbursed a record Rs 2,52,589 crore of loans during the month. As much as Rs 1,05,599 crore was given towards new term loans while Rs 46,800 crore was disbursed as new working capital loans, the Department of Financial Services said in a statement.

So fresh lending, including new term loans, was 60 per cent of the total disbursement, it said.

"This is a turnaround story. Banks are fully capitalised and in a position to meet any kind of credit requirement," Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar said.

Two years of sustained efforts by the government have turned around the public sector banks, he added.

Credit to NBFCs during the month of October 2019 was Rs 19,627.26 crore, the statement said.

As per the finance minister's directive, outreach programmes were conducted by banks in participation with private banks and NBFCs in 226 districts from October 1-9 in Phase-I and 148 districts from October 21-25 in Phase-II, it said.

Public sector banks actively reached out to their customers in these camps and made concerted efforts towards activities such as sanctioning of loans as per prudential norms, opening of accounts along with Aadhaar, mobile seeding of accounts and popularising the BHIM app, it said.

The drive also simultaneously galvanised similar outreach efforts in individual branches of banks, it added.

As per the data released, corporates availed maximum of Rs 1.22 lakh crore during the month, followed by agri loans (Rs 40,504 crore) and MSMEs (Rs 37,210 crore).

Home loans to the tune of Rs 12,166 crore were given by banks while vehicle loans stood at Rs 7,058 crore.

Out of total credit, Rs 19,627.26 crore was given to NBFCs, the co-origination alone was to the tune of Rs 15,297.18 crore and pool buyout was Rs 1,453.13 crore.