Centre to look into Khadi and Village Industries Commission complaints on banks not lending

NEW DELHI:  The Finance Ministry has said that it will look into the complaints of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) on banks unwilling to lend to small businesses. In a recent media interview, the KVIC chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena has said that he has received several complaints about banks not agreeing to lend even to businesses with confirmed government orders. Saxena was quoted as saying that he will "soon take the issue up with the finance minister".

Reaction to the complaints, senior finance ministry official from the Department of Financial Services, said that he would look into it. "It came to our notice. The government is very serious about the MSME sector and will take up individual cases to the concerned banks," the official added. 

During the COVID-19 crisis, small businesses were worst affected and the government has announced several schemes to handhold the small businesses. 

The Ministry of Finance also announced  100 per cent Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) backed by a Government of India guarantee, as a part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Package with a loan corpus of Rs 3 lakh crore.

The Ministry had earlier asked the banks to identify the companies in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector and provide them with loans without any collateral or processing fees.