Cabinet approves sanctioning of Rs 974 cr to SBI for ex-gratia payment to borrowers
New Delhi: The government on Wednesday approved sanction of Rs 973.74 crore to State Bank of India (SBI) as reimbursement related to loan moratorium that was implemented in 2020 amid the pandemic.
This amount is for the payment of claims submitted by lending institutions (LIs) under the scheme for grant of ex-gratia to borrowers in specified loan accounts during the moratorium period announced by RBI in March 2020.
Briefing media on the Cabinet decision, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur said the Budget had made provision of Rs 5,500 crore for the scheme of ex-gratia payment of difference between compound interest and simple interest for six months to borrowers in specified loan accounts.
Of this, Rs 4,626.93 crore payment was made in 2020-21, he said, adding, additional claims of Rs 1,846 crore were received during the current financial year.
SBI was given Rs 873.07 crore towards reimbursement of ex-gratia between July 23 and September 22, 2021. To clear the remaining amount, Thakur said, the Union Cabinet has approved sanction of Rs 973.74 crore to SBI towards payment of these dues.
"Operational guidelines for the scheme are already issued with the approval of the Cabinet. The said amount of Rs 973.74 crore will be disbursed in accordance with the said operational guidelines," an official statement said.
On March 27, 2020, RBI announced a loan moratorium on payment of instalments of term loans falling due between March 1 and May 31, 2020, due to the pandemic. Later, the same was extended to August 31.
Financial and non-banking financial institutions were asked to credit the difference between compound and simple interest collected on loans of up to Rs 2 crore during the moratorium scheme in November 2020.
The Ministry of Finance has said that after crediting this amount, the lending institutions would claim reimbursement from the central government. SBI was made a nodal agency for reimbursement of claims.
