59-minute loan approval scheme has approved loans of 1.12 lakh MSME applicants in less than 2 months

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla has stated that that out of 1.31 lakh loan applications in MSME sector, 1.12 lakh loan applications have been approved by the State-owned banks so far. The 59-minutes loan approval scheme was launched by the central government in November for the Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME).

The Minister in his reply further stated that the government along with the RBI has taken several steps to ensure access of credit to the MSME sector and the sanctions have been made in 40,669 cases worth Rs 14,088.32 crore. Under the 59 minutes loan scheme launched by the Modi government on November 3, 2018, loans worth Rs 37,412 crore have been approved to the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The scheme mandates the state-owned companies to procure at least 25% of their product requirements from smaller firms, among others.

GST-registered MSMEs are eligible to take a loan of up to Rs 1 crore in 59 minutes only through psbloansin59minutes.com portal along with access to cheaper credit by way of an interest subsidy on fresh loans. The portal uses data analysis of GST returns, tax returns and bank account statements to access the loan eligibility of the applicant.

The portal is maintained by Online PSB Loans Limited earlier known as Capital World Platform Private Ltd. The scheme mandates the state-owned companies to procure at least 25% of their product requirements from smaller firms, among others.

According to the RBI data on gross bank credit till October 2018 the credit to the industry has registered a growth of 3.6% year-on-year. Under the 59 minutes, loan scheme Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India alone have sanctioned 43% of the total amount sanctioned over the last 7 weeks. The loans sanctioned by Bank of Baroda amount to Rs 3,774 crore while Union Bank of India has sanctioned loans worth Rs 2,338 crore.

State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank are lagging behind in relation to sanctioning loans when compared with Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India with total sanctions amounting to 13.33% and 8.6% respectively.

OpIndia Staff: Staff reporter at OpIndia