Kerala CM seeks banks’ cooperation to tackle Covid financial crisis

Kerala: pandemic has gravely wounded Kerala’s economy, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday sought increased cooperation of banks to deal with the crisis. Addressing a meeting of the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) meeting here.

Vijayan urged the banks to bring issues being faced by the state’s various sectors to the notice of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He said this referring to the grave crisis being faced by the state’s unorganised sector due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The CM said the package announced by the RBI in May this year offers exemptions only for borrowers below Rs 25 crore and non-NPA accounts as on March 31.

Also referring to the state government’s memorandum to the Centre seeking to put in place a moratorium on repayment of loans till December 31, 2021 in order to provide relief to people hit by COVID-19 pandemic and the natural calamities, the Chief Minister said these matters should be brought to the notice of the RBI.

He also urged the banks to give maximum publicity to the central government’s decision to increase allocation for the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme to Rs 4.5 lakh crore as part of the Atma Nirbhar package. Banks should try to give maximum publicity to this programme and assistance should be ensured to the business community from this package, he said at the meeting attended by bank heads and SLBC representatives.