New Delhi: Private sector HDFC Bank’s loans to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector crossed 30 lakh rupees on an annual basis by the end of December. The bank received help from the Government’s Emergency Credit Facility Guarantee (ECLG) scheme. The bank disbursed loans of over Rs 23,000 crore under the scheme brought to help the MSME sector during the epidemic.
The bank said in a statement on Friday that the growth of loan to the MSME sector was helped by a special focus on semi-urban and rural customers. In December 2019, the bank’s loan to the MSME sector was Rs 1.4 lakh crore. By the end of the quarter ended December 2020, it rose by 30 per cent to Rs 2,01,758 crore.
Sumant Rampal, Senior Executive Vice President-Business Banking and Health Services Finance of the bank said, “Our loan to MSME sector has reached the pre-Kovid-19 level. In the quarter ended December 2020, it grew by 30 per cent year-on-year to Rs 2,01,758 crore. “
He said that the ECLG scheme contributed the most to the loan book. About 1.10 lakh MSME customers were given loans worth Rs 23,000 crore. In addition, during the pandemic, the bank focused on customers in the semi-urban and rural areas. In this, loans worth Rs 60,000 crore were given. He said that loans were given under most of the ECLG scheme during the last three to four months.
