The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on May 5, 2021 unveiled a host of measures to boost credit flow to the healthcare sector and ease the pain of small borrowers.
- The RBI has opened an on-tap liquidity window of Rs 50,000 crore with tenors of up to three years at the repo rate – four per cent — till March 31, 2022 to boost provision of immediate liquidity for ramping up Covid-related healthcare infrastructure and services in the country.
- Under the scheme, banks can provide fresh lending support to a wide range of entities including vaccine manufacturers, importers and suppliers of vaccines and priority medical devices, hospitals and dispensaries etc.
- These loans will continue to be classified under priority sector till repayment or maturity, whichever is earlier.
- The RBI has also announced to conduct special three-year long-term repo operations (SLTRO) of Rs 10,000 crore at repo rate for small finance banks, to be deployed for fresh lending of up to Rs 10 lakh per borrower.
