Small finance banks (SFBs) have been playing a prominent role by acting as a conduit for last mile supply of credit to individuals and small businesses. As announced on May 05, 2021, in the Statement by Shaktikanta Das, Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), with a view to provide further support to small business units, micro and small industries, and other unorganised sector entities adversely affected during the current wave of the pandemic, it has been decided to conduct special three-year long-term repo operations (SLTRO) of ₹10,000 crore at repo rate for the SFBs, to be deployed for fresh lending of up to ₹10 lakh per borrower. This facility will be available till October 31, 2021.
2. Accordingly, the Reserve Bank will conduct one auction for SLTRO each month. The first auction will be conducted on May 17, 2021 for ₹10,000 crore. The unutilised portion of notified ₹10,000 crore will be carried forward in each subsequent auction until fully utilised or till the last auction, whichever is earlier.
3. The details of auctions under the scheme are as below:
| Sl. No. | Date | Notified Amount (₹ crore) |
Tenor | Window Timing | Date of Reversal |
| 1 | May 17, 2021 | 10,000 | 3-year | 11:00 am to 11:30 am | May 16, 2024 |
| 2 | June 15, 2021 | Unutilised portion out of ₹10,000 crore from previous auction (s) | 3-year | 11:00 am to 11:30 am | June 14, 2024 |
| 3 | July 15, 2021 | 3-year | 11:00 am to 11:30 am | July 12, 2024 | |
| 4 | August 17, 2021 | 3-year | 11:00 am to 11:30 am | August 16, 2024 | |
| 5 | September 15, 2021 | 3-year | 11:00 am to 11:30 am | September 13, 2024 | |
| 6 | October 14, 2021 | 3-year | 11:00 am to 11:30 am | October 11, 2024 |
4. Other operational guidelines/details of the scheme are given in Annex-1.
(Yogesh Dayal)
Chief General Manager
