Boosting modules for growth moderation, FinMinIndia chairs meeting with representatives of MSME sector

New Delhi, August 06: Waking ahead in the series of meetings to discuss current economic issues with key stakeholders, including those from sectors undergoing a slowdown, Finance Minister Nirmala this morning chaired a meeting with the representatives of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector.

 

 

This is after Sitharaman along with the RBI deputy governor N. S. Vishwanathan reviewed the performance of the banking sector with heads of public sector banks and private lenders including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Citi Bank.

The review meeting with MSME representatives today focussed on overall credit growth to support the needs of the economy and ways in which they can help growth driving sectors in dealing with current issues. “In particular, the credit needs of the NBFC, automobiles and MSME sectors were discussed. Transmission of benefits of rate cuts to borrowers and industry was also discussed”, the statement reported.

The ministry yesterday had said that the banks would double efforts to extend cheaper, hassle-free and cash-flow based credit to MSMEs by leveraging GST, digital payments and alternate data. “Banks will also expedite restructuring of viable MSME units facing stress, under the special MSME restructuring dispensation available till March 2020”, Sitharaman noted.

 

At a time when the macro economy is going through a growth moderation, the step by the finance minister is expected to boost the sentiment across sectors. While there were signs that the finance minister was not keen to review her budget proposals, the series of planned meetings seem to indicate that the government is keen to ease the pain the economy is going through.