Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will meet heads of banks next week

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to meet heads of banks and financial institutions next week to remove friction in credit flow to productive sectors of the economy battered by the Coronavirus pandemic.

The two-day conference, beginning November 17, would see participation from all public sector banks and financial institutions (FIs).

Besides, CEOs of top six private sector lenders and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), including HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Cholamandalam Investment and Finance, Shriram Transport Finance and Tata Capital, would also be present.

In a letter addressed to chairman and CEO of banks and financial institutions, the finance ministry said the two-day conference will focus on flow of credit into different sectors of the economy in a seamless manner.

Observing that bank credit is integral to economic activity, the letter said “traditionally, banks have been the main source of credit for various sectors of the economy and their lending operations have evolved in response to needs of the economy”.

In order to better understand the ecosystem and related issues, it said, a stakeholders’ conference is being organised on November 17-18 to be attended by Finance Minister and other top government officials.

The meeting comes at a time when banks are undertaking outreach programmes to push lending in the productive sectors of the economy.