Banks sanctioned Rs 5,350cr to cos in West Bengal as emergency loans: Official

Credit in the non-primary segment is targeted at Rs 67,933 crore. About Rs 15,400 crore has been disbursed to MSMEs between April 1 and June 30, officials said.

Banks in West Bengal have sanctioned Rs 5,350 crore of loans till the last week of August to businesses to tide over liquidity woes amid the COVID-19 crisis, an official said on Friday. Public and private sector lenders have sanctioned the loans under the Centre's Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS). At the national level, the amount stood at around Rs 1.60 lakh crore.

"In West Bengal, the total sum sanctioned is Rs 5,350 crore till August, and the disbursement amount is Rs 3,560 crore," State-level Bankers' Committee convener and Punjab National Bank CGM Ashwini Kumar Jha told PTI. He said the loan figure under this category will rise as the Union finance ministry has granted some relaxations in the scheme, allowing more entities to be included under it.

Jha said for West Bengal, the annual credit plan in 2020-21 amounts to Rs 2.68 lakh crore, including Rs 77,236 crore for the agriculture segment, Rs 90,237 crore for MSMEs and Rs 33,127 crore for other primary sectors. Credit in the non-primary segment is targeted at Rs 67,933 crore.

About Rs 15,400 crore has been disbursed to MSMEs between April 1 and June 30, officials said. Jha also said lenders were committed to meet the 20- lakh new Kisan Credit Cards aim in the state by September 15.

So far, about 12.2 lakh cards have been issued and 5.5 lakh applications are pending banks..

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