Coronavirus: RBI Governor praises banks for near normal operations in lockdown, reviews economic situation

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Saturday appreciated the banks for ensuring normal to near normal operations during coronavirus lockdown and also reviewed the current economic situation. The RBI Governor held meetings with the heads of the major public and private sector banks earlier today in two separate sessions through video conference, the central bank said in a statement. The meetings were attended by deputy governors and other senior officers of RBI. Apart from reviewing the economy, the meeting saw discussion on credit flows to different sectors of the economy, including liquidity to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), micro finance institutions (MFIs), housing finance companies (HFCs), mutual funds, among others.

The RBI Governor also discussed with bank chiefs the post lockdown credit flows including provision of working capital, with special focus on credit flows to MSMEs. The implementation of three months moratorium on repayment of loan instalments announced by the RBI and monitoring of overseas branches of banks amid slowdown in global economies were the other issues discussed in the meeting.

Meanwhile, the RBI has taken several steps over the weeks to assuage the pressure faced by borrowers, lenders, and other entities such as mutual funds and assured to take more measures to deal with the developing situation. Since the February 2020 monetary policy meeting, the central bank has injected 3.2 per cent of GDP into the economy to tackle the liquidity crisis.

Meanwhile, the central government announced the extension of lockdown by 2 more weeks beginning from May 4 but with several relaxations in the green zones.

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