MUMBAI, 5th AUGUST, 2019 (GPN) :

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman has asserted that the major Indian banks have committed to step up affordable and hassle-free credit, with a special focus on the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and consumer finance sectors.

As part of this, banks have decided to increase the in-principle approval limit for contactless digital lending to MSMEs on the PSB59minutes.com portal up to five crore rupees.

The Minister said, they would also be expanding the contactless digital lending facility to retail products for personal, vehicle and home loans.

She was speaking to media persons after meeting the Heads of all Public Sector Banks and major Private Sector Banks in New Delhi today.

Mentioning that lending was not solely linked to liquidity, Ms Sitharaman said, it was related to a matrix of governance, solvency and various other factors associated with it. She said, the government is in the process of resolution of the different problems being faced by the home buyers.

The Finance Minister reiterated the commitment of the NDA Government to carry forward the fiscal reforms and assured that the new policy measures will be spelt out once the process of review and reconciliation is over.

Earlier in the day, the Finance Minister took a review of the performance of the banks with the top management of  Public Sector Banks and major Private Sector Banks in respect of matters relating to the growth of credit in various important sectors of the economy.

It was the first meeting in the series concerning the banking sector which would be followed by separate meetings with the stakeholders in different sectors including MSMEs, automobile, industry associations, financial markets, real estate and home buyers.

Government is expected to factor in the takeaways from the consultations for appropriate policy responses to maintain a high growth trajectory and to address sector-specific issues. Ends