Banks in Coimbatore district have disbursed nearly ₹450 crore to Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs) under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLG) announced by the Union Finance Minister last month.
According to District Lead Bank Manager S. Venkataramanan, the amount sanctioned to MSMEs by the banks - mainly the nationalised and old private sector banks - under the scheme is far higher than the amount disbursed so far in the district. As many as 4318 accounts have been sanctioned the additional loan. The amount disbursed so far is for MSMEs that are already customers of the banks that have loan accounts and have been regular in repayments.
“There are branches that have covered more than 90 % of their eligible MSME customers under the scheme. Disbursements under the scheme are an ongoing process and the numbers will increase in the coming days,” he said.
“When the Central government guidelines come for other schemes, the banks will follow that too and disburse more amount,” he said. Coimbatore and Tiruppur districts are among the top districts in the country in disbursing additional loans to MSMEs under the ECLG. There were some banks that had sanctioned loans and were just beginning to disburse the amount. Leading banks disburse amount under the scheme to 100 to 150 accounts a day, he added.
However, according to industries, private banks are reluctant to disburse additional loans to the MSMEs though they too have substantial exposure to the sector. “We are writing to all the private sector banks. Some of them have responded positively,” said the head of one of the industrial associations here.