Bankers pledge continuing support to MSMEs during post-COVID era

He said these units were not having surplus cash flow as their operations were at stress, while fixed costs did not reduce. "There is a requirement for providing liquidity support to the MSMEs for which the government has come out with the credit guarantee scheme," he said.

Acknowledging the liquidity crisis being faced by the MSMEs, leading bankers of the country on Thursday said they will continue to lend their support to these units even during the post-COVID era. There is a need for the bankers to provide more support to the micro, small and medium enterprises, State Bank of India Managing Director Arijit Basu said.

Speaking at a webinar organised by ICC, he said, "MSMEs will remain a crucial cog in the wheel of the economy. For India to become self-reliant, MSMEs have an important role to play." Basu said these units must have a viable business plan to avail credit from banks.

According to him, the fundamental issue that the corporates and MSMEs are facing is related to the stressed assets. For SBI, he said that there is no worry to lend as the bank's provision coverage ratio (PCR) was around 85-87 per cent.

Basu hoped that the second half of the current fiscal will be good. Punjab National Bank MD and CEO S S Mallikarjuna Rao said it is not that the MSMEs started facing the problem during the COVID-19 crisis.

"The MSMEs have been passing through tough times for the last two years. They have been facing cash flow problems," Rao said. He said these units were not having surplus cash flow as their operations were at stress, while fixed costs did not reduce.

"There is a requirement for providing liquidity support to the MSMEs for which the government has come out with the credit guarantee scheme," he said. He felt that the hand-holding will be required for the MSMEs even after the COVID-19 crisis.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)