As part of the fight against the pandemic, the state-run Canara Bank unveiled three loan programmes on Friday, including healthcare credit, business loans, and personal loans to individuals.

Registered hospitals, nursing homes, medical practitioners, diagnostic centres, pathology labs, and any other units engaged in servicing healthcare infrastructure would be eligible for loansranging from over Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 crore through the Canara Chikitsa healthcare credit facility. Canara Bank claimed in advertising that the loan, which would be issued at a low interest rate, will have a tenor of 10 years and a moratorium of up to 18 months.

The Canara Jeevanrekha healthcare business loan will provide a loan of up to Rs 2 crore with a low-interest rate for the manufacture and supply of healthcare products such as medical oxygen, oxygen cylinders, and oxygen concentrators to registered hospitals and nursing homes, as well as other manufacturers and suppliers.

There will be no processing cost for this loan, according to Canara Bank. There will be no collateral security for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which the lender will cover under the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE), and the bank will carry the guarantee premium.

CGTMSE is intended to give financial support to these types of businesses without the need for a third-party guarantee or collateral. The collateral security for non-MSMEs will be a minimum of 25 per cent.

The loan schemes Canara Chikitsa and Canara Jeevanrekha will be effective till March 31, 2022.

Customers seeking emergency financial assistance for Covid-19 treatment during admission or after discharge may be eligible for loans ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 5 lakh under the third category of loan, the Canara Suraksha personal loan plan. A six-month moratorium will be offered under the scheme. The scheme will be valid through September 30, 2021, and there will be no processing cost.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said earlier this month that banks will have access to a Rs 50,000-crore special window to lend to vaccine manufacturers, hospitals, and Covid-related health facilities. It also gave individual and small borrowers extra time to repay their debts, with the goal of giving financial assistance when the economy is hit hard by the pandemic's consequences.

According to Crisil, banks are expected to lend for healthcare activities at cheaper rates than they are now, thanks to the plan, which provides banks with loans at repo rates until March 2022 that can be used for on-lending and earn a priority sector lending classification.