New Delhi, Aug 6 (IANS): The Reserve Bank of India has once again turned its attention to meeting the funding requirements of NBFCs, MFIs and housing finance by providing additional special liquidity facility of Rs 10,000 crore to National Housing Bank (NHB) and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

Announcing a series of liquidity and regulatory measures to ensure economic activity continues in this period of Covid-19 outbreak and the lockdown, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said advances under the special liquidity facility would be charged at repo rate at the time of avail. This will allow the institutions to provide onward support to housing finance companies and small non-bank finance companies at competitive rates.

As per the RBI decision, under the special liquidity facility both NHB and NABARD would be provided Rs 5,000 crore capital each that will be used to refinance the identified sector.

Das said that Rs 5,000 crore to the NHB would be used to shield the housing sector from liquidity disruptions and augment the flow of finance to the sector through housing finance companies.

The liquidity facility to NABARD, he said, would ameliorate the stress being faced by smaller non-bank finance companies (NBFCs) and micro-finance institutions in obtaining access to liquidity.

The All India Financial Institutions (AIFIs) play an important role in meeting the long-term funding requirements of agriculture and the rural sector, small industries, housing finance companies, NBFCs and MFIs. These are the segments where funding needs are felt the most during the current Covid-19 fuelled crisis.