State-run National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC) has notified the proposed Rs 50,000-crore guaranteed credit scheme for bolstering health infrastructure, which will cover loans sanctioned between May 7, 2021, and March 31, 2022, or until the limit is exhausted.
Credit, backed by sovereign guarantee, will be extended to private hospitals to expand their existing facilities or set up new units outside top eight cities to help fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
The scheme was a part of the Rs 6.29-lakh-crore relief package announced late last month. Through the package, the government sought to bolster the fight against the pandemic and stir economic growth through sustained credit push.
State-run National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC) has notified a scheme under which loans of Rs 50,000 crore, backed by sovereign guarantee, will be extended to private hospitals to expand their existing facilities or set up new units outside top eight cities to help fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
The scheme to bolster health infrastructure, a part of the Rs 6.29-lakh-crore relief package announced late last month, will cover all loans sanctioned on or after May 7 until March 31, 2022. The move was part of the government’s efforts to bolster the fight against the pandemic and stir economic growth through sustained credit push.
Each investor can be granted a maximum of Rs 100- crore loan (including both fund and non-fund-based exposure). The interest rate will be capped at 7.95% per annum. The guarantee coverage will be limited to 50% for expansion and 75% for new projects. However, the coverage will be 75% for both greenfield and brownfield projects in the 125 “aspirational districts” notified by the government.
Credit will be provided for the setting up of or expanding hospitals, dispensaries, clinics, medical colleges, pathology labs and diagnostic centres. The facility is also available for manufacturing of vaccines, oxygen, ventilators and priority medical devices, and for public health care facilities. The units inside the municipal areas of New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Pune won’t be covered under the scheme.
The official guarantee will be provided for up to 2 years from the date of commencement of commercial operations, subject to a maximum period of five years from the date of first disbursement in case of brownfield projects, according to the NCGTC. For greenfield projects, the cover will be up to five years from the date of first disbursement.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had also announced an additional Rs 60,000-crore guaranteed credit facilities for other sectors, struggling to cope with the damage caused by the pandemic.
