The Finance Ministry has extended the scope of Emergency Credit Facility Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) to Rs 5 lakh crore. Under this, small businesses related to travel, tourism and hotel-restaurant have been included in the scheme. The Finance Ministry said in a statement that under ECLGS 3.0, the scope of benefits has been expanded to include MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) associated with travel, tourism and hotel-restaurant.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced in the budget of 2022-23 to extend the duration of the scheme for one year till March 2023. Also, the sanctioned amount under the scheme was increased from Rs 4.5 lakh crore to Rs 5 lakh crore. As per the latest amendment, new borrowers of sectors covered under ECLGS 3.0 who had taken loan between March 31, 2021 to January 31, 2022 will now be eligible to avail the emergency loan facility.
Also, the loan limit for eligible borrowers has been increased from 40 per cent to 50 per cent of the corpus based outstanding loan. According to the statement, the increased limit will be subject to a maximum of Rs 200 crore per borrower.
The ministry said the new amendments are aimed at promoting business by supporting these contact-intensive sectors through cash without any guarantee.