Banking Facilities Eased For Customers

At the press conference on Friday, announcing measures to revive the Indian economy, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed the issues in the banking and finance sector.

She said that an additional capital of Rs 70,000 crore has been sanctioned for banks to enable loans worth Rs 5 lakh crore.

Measures were announced after the Finance Ministry's discussions with the banks.

• Benefits of all repo rate cuts made by the Reserve Bank of India will be passed on into the MCLR by banks. MCLR is the rate below which a bank does not lend to the customers. With repo rate cuts, MCLR will also fall.
• Public Sector Banks will ensure that loan documents are returned to customers within 15 days of the closure of a loan.
• Banks will allow loan application tracking facility to the customers.
• NFBCs will be able to use Aadhaar-authenticated KYCs (know-your-customer) to simplify the taking up of credit.
• An additional Rs 20,000 crore will be provided to the housing finance companies from the National Housing Bank.

FM Sitharaman said that there is a fall in global consumption and economic growth, with global GDP projected at 3.2 percent and India's growth has been better than that of China or the US.