Reassuring to hear from RBI it is in "battle readiness" mode to help defeat coronavirus: ASSOCHAM

ASSOCHAM said RBI's assertion to "stand in battle readiness" and take "unconventional" measures to deal with the raging second wave of coronavirus, along with a slew of reliefs to the small borrowers, including individuals are important confident building announcements by Governor Shaktikanta Das.

The Chamber's Secretary General Deepak Sood said the "targeted policy response and easy credit promised to the entire healthcare value chain, in the government and private sector including the vaccine manufacturers are the aptest measures at this point of time". He said, very importantly, the RBI has mentioned the common man who is facing the brunt of this deadly virus and deserves easy finance options for medical expenses. 

Deepak Sood

Sood said the RBI has most correctly recognized how small businesses and financial entities at the grassroots are bearing the most considerable burden of the pandemic and has thus unveiled measures to help them. The measures include restructuring loans with exposure up to Rs 25 crore, treating lending to micro-financial institutions by small finance banks for further on lending to individual borrowers as a priority sector, and providing much-needed relief to sectors that are under maximum stress.

The rationalization of KYC norms - extending the scope of the video-based customer identification process- is an appropriate and timely ameliorating step for the common man and small and micro-business entities.

Under the guidance of the Centre, states are at the forefront of the war against Covid-19, and relaxation in overdraft norms for them would ultimately result in improved health services. "Resources both in terms of money and material are the weapons to defeat the pandemic", the ASSOCHAM said.