Bank loans have become accessible to all eligible people after 2014: Nirmala Sitharaman

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has observed that ‘phone banking’ used to be the order of the day between 2004 and 2014, during which period influential sections would prevail on the bankers to lend to the chosen ones, by making phone calls, with scant regard for creditworthiness. Banks have since undergone a major transformation in reaching out to the potential customers and sanctioning loans to all the eligible ones, especially for small businesses, without insisting on collateral security, thus curbing the menace of predatory lending. She said it was evident from such Credit Outreach Programs being organised across the country to expand the scope of institutional credit.