Indian Banks Reject RBI's Moratorium Proposal for NBFCs
SBI rejects RBI’s moratorium proposal
To help customers cope with the Covid-19 lockdown-related
economic problems, the RBI advised all commercial banks, NBFCs, cooperative
banks and housing finance companies are now permitted to give a 3-month
moratorium on all types of term loans.
SBI however, which is the largest bank in the country, has
said officially that the moratorium applies not to NBFCs. In the same way,
Indian Bank Association’s own circular does not contain the list of Non-Banking
financial Corporations as beneficiaries to the moratorium. It does not consider
HFCs and MFIs to be direct beneficiaries of the working capital financing.
Under the guidelines given by RBI, NBFCs can get support
from banks indirectly. After all, the RBI is providing banks with liquidity
support, and the banks in turn are to support NBFCs by the deployment of funds
in NCDs, investment grade corporate bonds, and commercial papers.
From where can one expect help?
In this perilous state of affairs, NBFCs are knocking the
doors of both RBI and the government. Right now, it all depends on the Reserve
Bank of India. A directive from the RBI can force banks to comply. That,
however, will be giving NBFCs an unfair advantage because many of them are as
large as India’s mid-size banks. Banks are also of the opinion that NBFCs are
strong players in the market’s credit intermediation since they serve the
micro-segment and the self-employment sections. These are the sections that
have been hit the hardest by the Covid-19 lockdown.
Right now, NBFCs are at a disadvantage as they do not have
access to low-cost funds that come from current and savings accounts.
A solution may come from the RBI creating a separate window
to help them. Alternatively, the government should step with some measures or
guarantees.
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