Chennai, Oct 25 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Monday urged the banks to extend credit to self employed personnel, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and education loan to students.

Speaking at the State Level Bankers Meet held here, Stalin said the Tamil Nadu government is implementing three self-employment schemes based on bank loans.

He said out of 137,429 loan applications recommended by the state government only 35.67 per cent have been cleared and this number has to be increased.

Stalin also said the state government will set up a credit guarantee fund so that banks and other financial institutions can lend to MSME units.

He said, the state government wants to uplift the MSME units affected by Covid-19 pandemic and requested the bankers to support the sector.

Requesting the bankers to issue Kisan credit cards to 7.16 lakh farmers, Stalin said till date 31.09 lakh credit cards have been issued.

Similarly, he also requested the lenders to process the 104 applications for loans from the food processing units.