Banks have sanctioned loans worth Rs 11,168 crore on around 1.93 lakh of accounts as part of the credit awareness program, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. Banks are holding special camps across the country to clear loans to eligible borrowers ahead of festival season.
Loans under the credit awareness program are in addition to those sanctioned and disbursed under various central government loan guarantee programs, the finance ministry said in a tweet. A total of Rs 6,268 crore of commercial loans were sanctioned to around 1 lakh of beneficiaries, while auto loans worth Rs 448 crore were sanctioned for 5,058 borrowers. Home loans worth Rs 762 crore have been sanctioned to 3,401 borrowers as of October 20, 2021, he said.
Earlier this month, the government urged public sector banks (PSBs) to launch a nationwide credit awareness program to capitalize on potential demand for loans during the pre-Diwali festival season. The move followed Sitharaman’s instructions in August to public lenders to start the outreach program.
Over 4.94 lakh crore rupees were disbursed by banks between October 2019 and March 2021 thanks to awareness initiatives they have undertaken. Muted for months together, the flow of non-food loans has seen a slight uptick in recent times. Non-food credit growth improved to 6.7 percent in August, from 5.5 percent a year earlier. Loans to industry increased 2.3 percent from 0.4 percent, but remained weak.
