Over Rs 81,700 crore disbursed by banks during 9-day loan mela: Finance Ministry
New Delhi: The Finance Ministry on Monday said loans worth Rs 81,781 crore were disbursed during the nine-day outreach programme or loan mela organised by banks that began on October 1.
Finance Secretary Rajeev Kumar said "Rs 81,781 crore was disbursed in the outreach programme. Of these, new loans accounted for Rs 34,342 crore."
Further, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the banks have sufficient liquidity, and efforts are being made to ensure that due payments are released to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector by large corporates.
In order to ensure liquidity for small businesses, Sitharaman said that banks have been asked to provide bill discounting facility to the MSME sector against payments due from the large corporates.
According to returns filed by the large corporates to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, as much as Rs 40,000 crore is due to the MSME sector, she said adding that all efforts would be made to ensure that MSMEs get their dues ahead of Diwali.
India celebrates the festival of light on October 27.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
