Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the ministry is in talks with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to increase the loan moratorium. The loan moratorium facility will expire on 31 August. Even after August 31, the period for repayment of loan for customers can be extended. But it is being opposed by the banks.
Sitharaman, referring to the hospitality sector in a program of industry organization FICCI (FICCI), said that the sector has been affected the most due to the lockdown. This sector could suffer a loss of Rs 90,000 crore this year.
During a meeting with RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das earlier this week, Rakesh Bharti Mittal, vice chairman of Bharti Enterprises, also demanded an extension of the moratorium and warned that if this facility was not extended further, there will be more companies joining NPA list this year.
On Friday, the country’s largest bank SBI announced its quarterly results. The result made it clear that he was not in favor of extending the moratorium. SBI Chairman Rajneesh Kumar said that 9.5 per cent of the account holders who had taken advantage of the moratorium, 5.2 per cent were corporate entities based on checking the accounts conducted by the bank, which had been in a position to lend loans since September. Not only SBI, but also HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh had said that the moratorium should not be carried forward.
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