New Delhi, Jagran Bureau. To save the general public and the business world in the fight against Kovid-19, the government and RBI have not given much emphasis to those who took the most emphasis on the scheme. This is actually the Moratorium Scheme on repayment of term loan. The country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has reported that only 22 per cent of its customers have taken advantage of the Moratorium Scheme for the period March-May 2020. These customers were given the relief of not paying the loan installment for three months, but about 82 percent of the customers have paid their installment for at least two months. This information was given by SBI Chairman Rajneesh Kumar. However, he also feared that there may be more number of people taking advantage of Moratorium during the quarter of June to August.
RBI has given the benefit of moratorium to the customers taking term loans for two-three months in two phases. The scheme has been implemented from March to August 2020 to provide some help to the general public and the corporate world in the circumstances arising out of Kovid-19. The Moody’s report states that as of May 2020, ICICI Bank’s 30 per cent of its borrowers have taken advantage of the moratorium, while customers holding Kotak Mahindra Bank’s 26 per cent of the total loan have opted for this option. Axis Bank has stated that 10-12 per cent of its customers have opted for Morotorium.
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SBI also revealed the financial results for the last quarter (January-March, 2020) of FY 2019-20, which are better than expected. The bank has reported a net profit of Rs 3,580.81 crore this quarter, which is four times more than the same quarter of the previous financial year. This quarter the bank’s income has increased and has also helped in reducing NPAs. The NPA level has come down from 2.65 per cent to 2.13 per cent as against the total advances. The bank has also had to adjust Rs 11,894 crore due to NPA, which stood at Rs 8,193 crore in January-March, 2019.Â
Talking about the entire financial year, the bank has earned a record profit of Rs 14,448 crore whereas in the year 2019-19 there was a net profit of only Rs 862 crore. The stake sale in two major subsidiaries, SBI Cards and SBI Life, has been the most important reason for this record profitability. But now that the economy and financial structure are being adversely affected by the Kovid-19, in the year 2020-21, the SBI chairman says that the situation may worsen from September 2020 onwards.
