Gujarat is third-highest borrower under the ECLGS

According to a data tabled in the lower house of the Parliament, a loan amount worth Rs 18,996 crore was extended to MSMEs in Gujarat under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) till January 21. This makes Gujarat the third-highest borrower under the scheme behind Maharashtra (Rs 30,324 crore) and Tamil Nadu (Rs 20,903 crore).

However, even as the value of borrowing seems to be higher, merely 2.84 lakh borrowers have availed sanction under this scheme says the data by the Ministry of finance. This means, fewer MSMEs have availed loans under ECLGS rolled out as part of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.

People in the know about this are of the say that Gujarat being a manufacturing-heavy state and being home to several MSMEs, the borrowings in the state were high. Primary borrowers include those from textiles, engineering goods and even the chemical sector.

“Ticket size of loans availed by industry players in state was significantly higher and therefore, the loan sanction amount was larger in Gujarat,” said a banker, explaining the high amount of borrowing.Similar trend is also observed in other manufacturing-heavy states such as Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu,” the banker added. Industry players however, also said that MSMEs in Gujarat were comparatively placed better because the lockdown eased faster in Gujarat as against other states.

Several measures taken to boost MSMEs include Rs. 50,000 crore equity infusion through MSME Fund of Funds; new Revised criteria for classification of MSMEs; New Registration of MSMEs through ‘Udyam Registration’ for Ease of Doing Business among others.