The Reserve Bank of India (RBI's) assertion to "stand in battle readiness" and take "unconventional" measures to deal with the raging second wave of COVID-19, along with a slew of reliefs to the small borrowers, including individuals, are important confident building announcements by Governor Mr. Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday.
Welcoming RBI's decision, banker Uday Kotak said, "The RBI Governor has taken the financial sector battle against COVID 2.0 head-on with a clear focus on protecting lives and livelihoods. CII welcomes the support to individual and MSME borrowers and ease of banking through digital means. The steps taken to expand the RBI balance sheet are needed and welcome."
The individuals, small businesses, and MSMEs, those having aggregate exposure up to Rs 25 crore and have not availed restructuring under the earlier restructuring frameworks, will be eligible to be considered under Resolution Framework 2.0.
Commenting on RBI's announcements, Mr. Ramesh Iyer, MD & VC, Mahindra Finance, said, "The RBI's announcement on the relief measures for small businesses, individuals, and micro, small and medium enterprises couldn't have been more timely as the country is fighting a war against Covid -19 pandemic. It's an important announcement looking at the present economic landscape. This will provide an impetus for businesses to recover from Covid -19 pandemic blues. The RBI's decision to rationalize certain components of the extant KYC norm this will support financial institution to operate in an efficient way. With these measures in place, I am confident that as a nation, we will emerge much stronger from this pandemic crisis."
Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII, said, "At a time when the pandemic is posing new challenges for the economy, the well-calibrated first tranche of measures announced by the RBI today pertaining to supporting the small businesses and incentivizing lending to the healthcare sector are indeed well-timed and propitious.
Industry body Assocham secretary general Mr. 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 most apt measures at this point of time."
Dr. Vivek Talaulikar, CEO at Global Hospital - Mumbai, said, "Global Hospitals, Parel, Mumbai have witnessed the pandemic in the country very closely. I would term this second wave a Tsunami, and this relief from the RBI Governor today is truly a sizeable boost across all stakeholders in the Healthcare sector; Hospitals, Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare equipment manufacturers, Health-tech companies, and also directly to the patients. We value this announcement and find it benevolent for the Healthcare sector. We assure to continue as one of the prime player in making country become-' Healthy India' and I am sure this way, the next decade, is the decade of Healthcare."
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Mr. Sanjay Palve, Senior Managing Director, Essar Capital Ltd., said, "RBI Governor's address has provided a much-needed reassurance in these times of uncertainty. The speech highlighted RBI's constant efforts to stabilize the economy and provide relief to the ailing and badly hit sectors due to the second wave of the pandemic. The announcement of schemes such as the second round of loan restructuring and Banks being incentivized to extend swift credit to weak sectors are all steps in the right direction. The priority right now is to save lives, and the On-tap liquidity facility of Rs 50,000 crore to ease access to emergency health services is just what the country needs. We all need to stay strong and united to overcome this unprecedented situation, and the RBI and our government are taking all measures in their capacity to achieve this."