The State government has availed of loans to the tune of ₹50,076 crore from the public sector banks (PSBs) since April 1, 2019.
Answering an unstarred question raised by TDP Rajya Sabha member Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar on Tuesday, Union Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad disclosed these details.
The loans were sanctioned by the PSBs to various companies and corporations owned by the State government, he said.
As per the provisions of Clause (b) of Sub-section(1) of Section 21A of the Reserve Bank of India Act,1934, the RBI, by agreement with any State government, may undertake the issue of any new loans by the latter.
“In accordance with the same, the RBI currently acts as a banker to all State governments except for Sikkim. Thus, new loans are issued by the RBI (and not by banks) in its capacity as a banker ,” Mr. Bhagwat Karad explained.
According to him, the Bank of Baroda sanctioned ₹9450 crore, while Bank of India sanctioned ₹7,075 crore. The State Bank of India sanctioned ₹15,047 crore, while Bank of Maharashtra sanctioned ₹2,800 crore.
Similarly, the Central Bank sanctioned ₹2,307 crore. Indian Bank sanctioned ₹4,300 crore. Indian Overseas Bank and Punjab National Bank sanctioned ₹1,750 crore and ₹5,797 crore respectively to the State government.
Punjab and Sind Bank sanctioned ₹750 crore, while Union Bank of India sanctioned ₹6,800 crore, the Minister said.
