New Delhi | Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced a loan guarantee scheme of Rs 1.1 lakh crore for the Kovid-affected areas. The scheme will include a loan of Rs 50,000 crore for the health sector, with an aim to provide medical infrastructure targeting underserved areas.
The Central Government has announced this package as a relief to revive the economy badly affected by the Corona epidemic.
The scheme will include guarantee cover for expansion and new projects related to health and medical infrastructure in cities other than eight metros.
For aspirational districts, the guarantee cover for both new projects and expansion will be 75 percent.
The maximum loan amount under the newly announced scheme would be Rs 100 crore and the guarantee period would be up to three years.
The interest on the loan for the health sector will not exceed 7.95 percent per annum.
Sitharaman also said that the guarantee will be provided by the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Ltd.
Under this scheme, loans of Rs 60,000 crore will be allowed for sectors other than health at an interest rate of 8.25 percent per annum.
The normal interest rate without guarantee cover is 10 to 11 percent.
Sitharaman has announced a big package for public health to promote the health sector amid the Corona epidemic. With this step of the Center, emergency health services will get a boost in the time of the epidemic.
