Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra says the state has a higher chance of tackling the economic fallout of Covid-19 than the rest of the country as it had better economic fundamentals than other states while going into the pandemic.
Speaking at a webinar organised by Ficci, Mitra informed banks have lent Rs 11,231 crore from April 20 — when the lockdown started to ease — up until May 27 to the MSMEs in Bengal, underlying robust demand from the industry.
“It is a vindication of the fact that Bengal’s economy continues to perform despite the slowdown due to the pandemic,” Mitra said.
Aggregate lending by banks from 2011-12, when Mitra’s Trinamul Congress ended the 34-year Left rule in Bengal to form the government, till last fiscal (2019-20) is Rs 243,419 crore, with Rs 74,000 crore disbursed in the last fiscal alone, topping the target of Rs 70,000 crore. The FM has set a lending target of Rs 90,000 crore to the MSME sector.
“We have achieved the target through a collaborative effort of banks, the government and MSME sector. I held an SLBC (state level bankers’ committee) meeting during the lockdown digitally, probably the only one to do so in the country,” the minister later said.
The minister exhorted banks to step out of the ‘Lakshman Rekha’ to lend more generously to the industry. He also asked the banks to extend support to entrepreneurs who are coming up with innovative products to fight the pandemic. “There are many opportunities coming up, they need backing to scale up,” Mitra said.
Some of the initiatives announced in the state budget to aid the MSME sector — providing interest subvention to the weavers — is now in the process of being rolled out. The Banglashree project, where Rs 100 crore has been earmarked in the budget, will focus on creation of more MSME units. During the last eight years 539 clusters have been created.
Mitra, a vocal critic of the Centre, expressed worries about the country’s economy saying it was on a downward spiral with seven straight quarters of deceleration while going into lockdown. He pointed out that the fiscal and cash stimulus announced by the Modi government was grossly inadequate to revive the economy.
