Can you tell me about the special loans offered by the RBI hotels and tour operators in its monetary policy?

There was small shift in the intent of the RBI in the policy as it focused a lot more on directing credit to needy sectors. For example, the RBI announced a separate on-tap liquidity window to for the most contact intensive sectors. These include sectors like tourism, tour operators, aviation, hotels, restaurants which have been the worst hit due to the social distancing norms and limits on movement. This calls for easy loans to these.

The move will provide liquidity to the tune of Rs.15,000 crore till March 31, 2022 with tenors of up to three years and is expected to ease the liquidity woes of the sector substantially if not entirely. It envisages fresh lending support to hotels, restaurants, travel agents, tour operators, airlines, ancillary aviation services, supply chain companies, logistics companies, private bus operators, rent-a-car services, spa clinics, beauty parlours etc.

These industries had been remonstrating that in the absence of support they would find it tough to even survive. Hotels have already been recognized as one of the most stressed sectors and they urgently need a helping hand from the government. Most of these contact intensive sectors are also extremely robust job creators and income generators and this has also substantially impacted spending and income generation, hurting demand in the process.