Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will meet bankers on Monday to assess how much progress public sector lenders have made since the government’s announcements to improve liquidity flows to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and retail borrowers.
The government, she said, ‘is not going to sit back and relax’ after announcing a slew of measures to spur growth in stressed sectors.
‘Open-minded’
“Even today, I am open-minded in the Finance Ministry. Come up to us with issues and we will examine them,” she said.
“I wouldn’t say we have addressed all the pain points. Some of the areas where we have intervened still face some issues.
“For instance, for NBFCs, we came up with a way in which more liquidity can reach them. That hasn’t probably completely addressed all the issues they face,” she said.
“On Monday, I have called all the bankers again, particularly the public sector banks. I want to know what is happening; are they giving that money which the government has given them as growth capital to the NBFCs or not?
“So, I have asked them to come with all the data prior to the announcement and post the announcement, the actual number of NBFCs that benefit, how much has been given to them, how much has been given for retail credit and any other category,” said Ms. Sitharaman.
Choosing not to comment on growth forecast downgrades by the Reserve Bank of India and Moody’s Investor Services, the Minister said “My business at this time is to make sure I do [what is] necessary, as demanded. If not everything, at least as much as I can do for them, so that the stressed sectors will have something to look forward to. I know the new IMF chief has also spoken. I am taking all that into cognisance,” she said.
