The Rs 30,000 crore Special Liquidity Scheme for Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) has received very positive response, the government said on Friday. As on July 23, five proposals amounting to Rs 3,090 crore have been sanctioned, stated the Ministry of Finance. Another 35 proposals have been received by the government seeking financing of Rs 13,778 crore, the ministry said. These requests are under process.

The Special Liquidity Scheme was implemented on July 1 as a follow-up of one of the announcements made under Aatma Nirbhar Bharat on May 13. The scheme was launched to improve the liquidity of NBFCs/HFCs through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to avoid any potential systemic risks to the financial sector.

The SPV, SLS Trust, set up by SBI Capital Markets is implementing the scheme. Any NBFC including microfinance institutions registered with RBI under the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 (excluding those registered as Core Investment Companies) and any HFC registered with the National Housing Bank (NHB) under the National Housing Bank Act, 1987 that are in compliance with certain specified conditions are eligible to raise funding through this SPV. 

The scheme would be open for 3 months. It permits both primary and secondary market purchases of debt and seeks to address the short-term liquidity issues of NBFCs/HFCs.