Coronavirus crisis | RBI allows banks to offer moratorium on EMI payments for 3 more months

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday issued a statement announcing the extension of the moratorium on payment of loans by another three months till August 31 as a relief-oriented effort to borrowers whose income have suffered setbacks due to the coronavirus crisis. The central bank had earlier in March given approval for a three-month moratorium on payment of all term loans due between March 1, 2020 and May 31, 2020. Likewise, the repayment schedule and all subsequent due dates, as also the tenor for such loans, were shifted across the board by three months.

The moratorium had provided much-needed liquidity to individuals whose loan repayments were not deducted from their bank accounts during this period. The EMI repayments will once again resume only upon the expiration of the moratorium time period, which is on August 31. RBI governor Shaktikanta Das however maintained that it is the right of the individual banks to take a decision on whether this moratorium will be extended to all borrowers and is only an enabling provision, but not a mandate.