Banks will offer off-the-shelf unsecured loans of up to Rs 5 lakh to individuals for Covid treatment, and business loans up to Rs 100 crore for setting up healthcare facilities.
The launch of the new schemes was announced by SBI chairman Dinesh Khara and Indian Banks’ Association chairman Rajkiran Rai on Sunday. Khara said that SBI has decided to price its unsecured loans at 8.5%.
The bankers also provided an update on the restructuring offer made to small businesses under the scheme announced by the RBI earlier this month. Rai said that up to April, banks did not see any problem in the servicing of loans. However, in May, there was a drop in collections but it was too early to get an idea of the number.
Individuals seeking a restructuring of loans can make an application on the bank’s website or manually submit the proposal.
Both the borrower and the bank will have to agree to a resolution plan within 30 days of the application and September 30 would be the last day for finalising the resolution plan.
Khara said that public sector banks have formulated a templated approach for restructuring loans to individuals, small businesses and MSMEs for up to Rs 25 crore. He said that banks would be proactive and would reach out to eligible customers through bulk SMS messages and offer-cum-acceptance would be generated and sent electronically.
The personal loans would be available to all individuals for treatment of self or family member. The minimum loan amount would be Rs 25,000 and the term would be for a maximum of five years. The RBI had encouraged lenders to provide such loans earlier this month by offering to refinance up to Rs 50,000 crore with priority sector status for such advances. While banks have financed oxygen plants and vaccine manufacturers in May 2020, the standardised packages are expected to speed up disbursement.
The business loans would be available for anyone engaged in building and servicing healthcare infrastructures such as hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, diagnostic centres and pathology labs. It will be available for Greenfield investments as well as for adding to existing capacity. The quantum of loan, which will be for a tenure of up to 10 years, will be Rs 100 crore for metro centres, Rs 20 crore for tier-1 and urban centres, and Rs 10 crore for smaller towns.
