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Special Liquidity Scheme – providing short term liquidity relief for NBFCs

Timothy Lopes | Senior Executive

Vinod Kothari Consultants

finserv@vinodkothari.com

In light of the disruption caused by the pandemic, the Government of India announced a Rs. 20 lakh crores economic stimulus package. The first of the several reforms were announced on 13th May, 2020 which announced the Emergency Credit Line, the partial credit guarantee scheme 2.0 (PCG 2.0), TLTRO 2.0 and much more.

The PCG 2.0 scheme permitted banks to purchase CPs and bonds issued by NBFCs/MFIs/HFCs. These purchases were then guaranteed by the Government of India up to 20% of the first loss. For more details of the scheme see our write up here.

The announcement also proposed launching a Rs. 30,000 crores “Special Liquidity Scheme” for NBFCs/HFCs including MFIs. The Cabinet approved this scheme on 20th May, 2020[1].

On 1st July, 2020, RBI has released the details of the Special Liquidity Scheme[2]. The scheme is intended to avoid potential systemic risk to the financial sector. The scheme seems to be a short term relief for NBFCs acting as a bail-out package for near term maturity debt instruments. The scheme is intended to supplement the existing measures already introduced by the Government.

The scheme will provide liquidity to eligible NBFCs defined in the notification which is similar to the eligibility criteria specified under the PCG 2.0 scheme. The Government will implement the scheme through SBICAP which is a subsidiary of SBI. SBICAP has set up a SPV called SLS Trust to manage the operations. More details about the trust can be found on the website of SBICAP[3].

Under the scheme, the SPV will purchase the short-term papers from eligible NBFCs/HFCs.  RBI will provide liquidity to the Trust depending on actual purchases by the Trust. The utilisation of proceeds from the scheme will be only towards the sole purpose of extinguishing existing liabilities.

Eligible instruments

Instruments eligible for the scheme are relatively short term. The scheme specifies that CPs and NCDs with a residual maturity of not more than three months (90 days) and rated as investment grade will be eligible instruments. These dates, however, may be extended by Government of India. The SPV would invest in securities either from the primary market or secondary market subject to the conditions mentioned in the Scheme.

The actual investment decisions will be taken by the Investment Committee of the SPV.

Validity of the Scheme

The scheme is available only up to 30th September, 2020 as the SPV will cease to make purchases thereafter and would recover all the dues by 31st December, 2021 or any other date subsequently modified.

Investment by the SPV

The SPV set up under the scheme comprises of an investment committee. The investment committee will decide the amount to be invested in a particular NBFC/HFC. The FAQs available on the website of SBICAPs specifies that the Trust shall invest not more than Rs. 2000 crores on any one NBFC/HFC subject to them meeting conditions specified in the scheme. The Trust may have allocation up to 30% to NBFCs/HFCs with asset size of Rs. 1000 crores or less.

Rate of Return and collateral

Rate of Return (RoR) and other specifics under the scheme will likely be based on mutual negotiation between the NBFCs and the trust. According to the FAQs, the yield on securities invested by SPV shall be decided by the Investment Committee subject to the provisions of the scheme.

The Trust may also require an appropriate level of collateral from the NBFCs/ HFCs as specified under the FAQs.

Conclusion

The scheme is a welcome move likely to provide sufficient liquidity to the NBFC sector for the near term and act as a bail-out package for their short term liabilities.

The press release dated 20th May, 2020, approving the Special Liquidity Scheme states that “Unlike the Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme which involves multiple bilateral deals between various public sector banks and NBFCs, requires NBFCs to liquidate their current asset portfolio and involves flow of funds from public sector banks, the proposed scheme would be a one-stop arrangement between the SPV and the NBFCs without having to liquidate their current asset portfolio. The scheme would also act as an enabler for the NBFC to get investment grade or better rating for bonds issued. The scheme is likely to be easier to operate and also augment the flow of funds from the non-bank sector.”

Our related write ups may be viewed below –

http://vinodkothari.com/2020/05/pcg-scheme-2-0-for-nbfc-pooled-assets-bonds-and-commercial-paper/

http://vinodkothari.com/2020/05/guaranteed-emergency-line-of-credit-understanding-and-faqs/

http://vinodkothari.com/2020/05/self-dependent-india-measures-concerning-the-financial-sector/

http://vinodkothari.com/2020/04/would-the-doses-of-tltro-really-nurse-the-financial-sector/

[1] https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1625310

[2] https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=11925&Mode=0

[3] https://www.sbicaps.com/index.php/sls-trust/