Christ Yoder
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New Delhi: In an effort to help people and businesses affected as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, public lenders including Indian Bank, Union Bank of India and Bank of Baroda announced on Wednesday emergency loan some products.
In addition, other public sector lenders – Canara Bank, UCO Bank and Indian Overseas Bank – have also announced an emergency line of credit for customers.
Public sector banks with about 80 percent of banking operations have taken steps to ensure the safety of its staff and uninterrupted banking services to customers.
“In these difficult times, the bank is committed to standing by its customers’ side. Given the challenges faced by various sectors of the economy, we have launched products to meet the immediate liquidity needs of businesses and customers of retail, “said the management of the Bank of India. said director Padmaja Chunduru.
“Following the #coronavirus outbreak, #UnionBankofIndia relentlessly supports all of its existing customers with the launch of the Covid Emergency Line of Credit (CELC) which provides additional credit facilities to address liquidity issues.” , the Union Bank of India said in a tweet.
Another public lender, Bank of India, has also announced an emergency line of credit for borrowers.
The Bank of Baroda said it has set up an emergency line of credit to provide funds to its existing MSME and business borrowers affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
This follows a similar additional financing facility announced by the country’s largest lender, the State Bank of India, for its borrowers last week.
“Canara Bank announces Special loan for our MSME / Business / Business / Agri and Retail clients, to overcome liquidity / cash flow disparities following the COVID -19 outbreak, “the bank tweeted.
Indian Overseas Bank has launched the MSME product “COVID 19 Line of Support Scheme” for all MSME customers.
More banks will follow suit and announce a special emergency line of credit in the days to come.
Last week, the country’s largest lender, the State Bank of India, also announced an emergency line of credit to deal with any liquidity imbalance for its borrowers.
Sharing the details, she said, the IND-COVID Emergency Line of Credit (IBCECL) for Large Businesses will provide additional funding of up to 10% of working capital limits (both limits fund-based and not fund-based) with a maximum limit of Rs 100 crore.
Large and medium-sized businesses in the standard category would be eligible for this loan, she said, adding that the loan term would be 36 months with an initial moratorium of up to 6 months and carry a rate fixed interest rate of 1 year MCLR.
For the MSME sector, she said, the IND-MSE COVID emergency loan aims to provide additional funding of 10% of working capital limits based on funds with a maximum of Rs 50 lakhs.
They will have an occupancy period of up to 60 months and there will be no processing fee.
To support the female workforce, the bank launched the SHG-COVID – SAHAYA LOAN. Under this, each member can benefit from a soft loan of Rs 5000 up to a maximum of Rs 1 lakh per SHG. The loan is for 36 months with a 6-month moratorium.
Indian Bank serves 1.68 lakh SHG with over 22 lakh female beneficiaries and the proceeds will help them overcome the crisis, she said.
For the salaried class, the bank has designed an IND-COVID emergency wage loan under which one can receive a loan up to an amount equivalent to 20 times the last monthly gross salary, subject to a maximum of Rs 2 lakhs.
Available at a preferential rate, it will help deal with urgent medical and other expenses, she said.
“We expect these lines of credit to meet the immediate liquidity needs of businesses. SHGs have always been an important part of our activities and with our initiatives we ensure that the group receives all the support desired for its financial independence. We have made these loans repayable. over a longer period of time to give them flexibility in operations until business picks up. With the class of employees and retirees, it is more of a line to meet their immediate needs, ”she said.
Speaking of the bank’s efforts to keep its staff safe, Chunduru said, the bank deploys 50 percent of the staff on an alternate basis.
In addition, she said, masks, disinfectants are provided and a helpline number managed by a team of doctors has been opened for staff and their families to respond to the query related to the disease.
She said the bank is also identifying non-critical roles that would be identified to enable the implementation of the work-from-home policy.
The bank is also dissuading its customers from visiting bank branches and making transactions through digital banking services (DBS) in order to protect themselves from the coronavirus.
The bank encourages digital payments such as mobile banking, internet banking, debit and credit cards instead of using cash, which may require them to travel to crowded places to pay their bills.
To familiarize people with digital payment methods, she said, the bank has designed videos that educate customers on how to use it step by step.
For retirees, she said, the bank is going the extra mile to deliver cash to their doorstep as these people are more prone to virus attacks.
