TIL Desk/Business/Kolkata/ The Priority Sector Lending Certificates (PSLCs) scheme is gaining popularity as the total trading volume of the platform stood at Rs 1,843.3 billion at the end of last financial year, up from Rs 498 billion in the previous year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Wednesday.
The PSLCs scheme was introduced in April 2016 as a mechanism to incentivise banks which surpass their targets in lending to different categories under the priority sector.
“The PSLC platform saw active participation from all the eligible entities including Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs) and Small Finance Banks (SFBs) during 2017-18. At end-March 2018, total trading volume of PSLCs was Rs 1,843.3 billion as against Rs 498 billion at end-March 2017,” the central bank said in its latest Annual Report released on Wednesday.
In a manner similar to carbon credit trading, PSLCs allow market mechanism to drive the priority sector lending by leveraging the comparative strength of different banks.
