Sitharaman's booster dose for economy too late or timely?

To provide relief to MSMEs hit by the second COVID-19 wave, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday raised the limit under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) by 50 per cent to Rs 4.5 lakh crore to help small businesses get credit at concessional rate.

Sharing details of the scheme, the finance minister said that contact intensive sectors are already covered and shall be continued. Around Rs 4,000 crore has been given to these sectors through this window so far and limit of admissible guarantee and loan amount proposed to be increased above existing level of 20 per cent of outstanding on each loan.