RBI asked to consider extending restructuring scheme for MSMEs till Mar 31, 2021: FM

New Delhi, Feb 1 (KNN) To support the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in their businesses, the government has asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to consider extending the restructuring scheme to them by another year till March 31, 2021.

In her first full-fledged Budget speech after the general elections last year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said this would help MSME entrepreneurs in supporting their business.

More than 5 lakh small businesses had benefited from the scheme in the last one year, she said.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed lenders to restructure loans of stressed micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), provided the total fund and non-fund based exposure to a borrower doesn’t exceed Rs 25 crore as on 1 January 2019.

At the time, the banking regulator had announced that this scheme would last till March 2020.

According to the scheme, RBI had allowed a one-time restructuring of existing MSME loans that have defaulted, but are not non-performing as on 1 January. Such a debt restructuring, the central bank had said, would not lead to a downgrade in asset classification.

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