NEW DELHI: As announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the first phase of Loan Mela will start from Thursday across 250 districts in the country to meet the festival season demand.
The mela, set to start from October 3, will involve sanctioning of loans for retail, agriculture, vehicle, home, MSME, education and personal categories on the spot.
These camps will provide a one-stop destination for MSMEs, small retail businesses and end-customers to access all banking services, especially loans in auto, home, personal and business sections.
While at one level it will help businesses to gear up for the festive season, it will also provide ready cash in the hands of consumers.
During the annual performance review earlier this month, public sector banks decided to undertake outreach exercise in 400 districts identified for the purpose. Later, the private sector also expressed their willingness to join the initiative. The move was to boost liquidity in the system.All banks, including the State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB), Bank of Baroda (BoB) and Corporation Bank have geared themselves up to take advantage of the festival season demand.
SBI is the lead banker in 48 districts across the country. Likewise, BoB is the lead banker in 17 out of 250 districts in the first phase.Apart from public sector banks, non-banking financial companies, housing finance companies, micro finance institutions, Small Industries Development Bank of India and private sector banks can also participate in the scheme.The second phase will be held between October 21 and October 25 across 150 districts, just before Diwali.