New Delhi, Jun 30 (IANS): In a bid to support businesses amid the pandemic, the Union Cabinet has approved additional funding up to Rs 1.50 lakh crore under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS).

The scheme would be applicable to all eligible loans sanctioned under Guaranteed Emergency Credit Line (GECL) till September 30, 2021, or till an amount of Rs 4.50 lakh crore is sanctioned under the GECL, whichever is earlier.

Further, on account of the disruptions caused by the second wave of Covid-19, specially on healthcare sector, the Union Cabinet has approved Loan Guarantee Scheme for Covid Affected Sectors (LGSCAS) enabling funding to the tune of Rs 50,000 crore to provide financial guarantee cover for brownfield expansion and greenfield projects related to health or medical infrastructure.

An official statement said that the LGSCAS has been formulated as a specific response to an exceptional situation the country has witnessed due to lack of adequate health infrastructure in the light of second wave of Covid-19.

The Cabinet has also given its approval for extending the terminal date for registration of beneficiaries for availing the benefit under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana (ABRY) for another nine months -- from June 30, 2021 to March 31, 2022.

Consequent upon this extension, it is expected that 71.8 lakh employment will be generated in the formal sector as against the earlier projection of 58.5 lakh.

As on June 18, 2021, benefit amounting to Rs 902 crore has been given to 21.42 Lakh beneficiaries through 79,577 establishments under ABRY.