mumbai the rbi on friday further eased badloan rules froze dividend payment by lenders and pushed banks to lend more by cutting the reverse repo rate by 25 basis points as it unveiled a second set of measures to support the economy hit hard by a coronavirusled slowdownin his second televised address since the nationwide lockdown began from march 25 the reserve bank of india rbi governor shaktikanta das pledged to boost liquidity and expand bank creditin a measure that effectively meant that bad loans or nonperforming asset npa classification will now happen after 180 days instead of the current policy of 90 days of payment default the rbi announced an asset status freeze on loans that have been granted moratorium or deferment on interestprincipal paymentthis would cover the borrowers of both banks and nbfcsthis means that the moratorium period will not lead to a spurt in npas in the system and will allow the borrowers across retail small and mediumsized enterprises smes and corporates availing the moratorium to access additional funding from banks or nonbanking financial companies nbfcsdas however said lenders will have to make an additional provision of 10 per cent for those exposures under moratoriumrbi cut reverse repurchase rate a tool to control the money supply to 375 per cent with immediate effect to encourage banks to deploy surplus funds within the system towards lendingthe reverse repo rate cut will discourage banks from parking cash with the rbi and encourage them to lend to the economyit kept its benchmark repo rate which was reduced late last month unchanged at 440 per centthe central bank also allowed states to borrow 60 per cent more via ways and means advance facility available and extended the increased limit until september 30to preserve capital rbi asked banks not to pay any further dividends for the fiscal year ended march 31it is imperative that banks conserve capital to retain their support for the economy and absorb losses in an environment of heightened uncertainty das saidthe dividend curbs will be reviewed in the quarter ending september 30regulators around the globe have similarly advised lenders to cut or delay dividends so as to ensure that they have enough buffers to weather what the international monetary fund imf predicts to be the worst global recession since the 1930srbi will inject rs 50000 crore in a new round of targeted longterm repo operations and asked banks to use the funds availed through this facility to benefit nbfcs and microfinance institutions among othersthe rbi had on march 27 announced a steep 75 basis points cut in the repo rate slashed cash reserve ratio and permitted a threemonth moratorium on all loans including home loans extended by commercial banks and lending institutionssince march 27 2020 when i spoke to you last the macroeconomic and financial landscape has deteriorated precipitously in some areas but light still shines through bravely in some others das saidindia is among the handful of countries that is projected to cling on tenuously to positive