As part of a government-initiated outreach programme, public sector banks have disbursed a record Rs 4.91 lakh crore of loans during October-November, the finance ministry said on Tuesday.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in September asked banks to reach out to customers and signal their willingness to lend following all prudential norms to boost consumption and revive the economy.

The outreach camps or loan 'melas' were conducted across 374 districts to improve credit delivery and support the needs of the economy, with particular focus on MSMEs, NBFCs, corporates, retail and agriculture sector borrowers, without compromising prudential lending.

Banks disbursed Rs 2.52 lakh crore of loans in October and Rs 2.39 lakh crore in November taking the total disbursement by public sector banks to various sectors since the launch of the Customer Outreach programme in October stands at Rs 4.91 lakh crore, the ministry said.

During the two months, banks have given Rs 72,985 crore to MSME sector while loans to corporates stood at Rs 2.2 lakh crore.

For NBFCs, PSBs disbursed Rs 25,525 crore loan in November, increasing sharply from Rs 19,628 crore in October, taking the total to Rs 45,153 crore, it said.

Total support sanctioned by PSBs in the form of credit (including co-origination and on-lending) and pool buyouts from NBFCs since the IL&FS default in September 2018 till November 2019 has risen to Rs 4.23 lakh crore, including pool-buyouts of Rs 1.24 lakh crore, it added.

PSBs, that are being adequately capitalised and record recovery underway, have sufficient liquidity to support credit growth, it said.Sitharaman while replying to a query on Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019 in the Lok Sabha on Monday said the government would make sure that the banks would not go to metropolitan cities but to 400 districts and hold outreach programs to address liquidity issue.