经济学人下载:印度银行——延期偿付(1)

Soon after India went into a strict lockdown in March, its central bank allowed borrowers to put off loan repayments for three months.
三月，印度实施严格封锁不久后，其中央银行允许借款方将偿还借款期限延迟三个月。

That moratorium has since been extended by a further three months, and another extension is reportedly being considered.
后来延期偿付又延长了3个月，据报正在考虑再次延长。

It appears to have been a boon to borrowers. But top financiers, such as Deepak Parekh, the chairman of HDFC, a big mortgage lender,
这对借款方来说似乎是一件好事。但像大型抵押贷款机构HDFC的主席Deepak Parekh以及

and Uday Kotak, the chief executive of Kotak Mahindra Bank, are beginning to worry that it is damaging the financial system.
科塔克马亨德拉银行总裁Uday Kotak这样的顶级金融家则开始担心，这么做会损害金融体系。

They are urging the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the central bank, to change course.
他们敦促央行印度储备银行（RBI）改变策略。

The moratorium was intended to prevent the cash crunch induced by lockdowns translating into a more lasting shock,
延期偿付的目的是防止因封锁导致的现金危机转变成一场更加持久的冲击，

by allowing revenue-starved companies time to pay back their debts. India has not been alone in using payment holidays,
让缺乏储备的公司有时间偿还他们的债务。印度并不是唯一一个采取延期偿付措施的国家，

though those in other countries have tended to be more limited in duration and scope.
尽管在其他国家，这些措施对持续时间和范围的限制往往更多。

But India's government is less able than those in the rich world to afford other ways of supporting borrowers, such as generous cash handouts.
但印度政府无法像其他富裕国家那样负担得起其他支撑借款方的方式，如慷慨的现金补贴。

Huge numbers of borrowers have availed themselves of the payment holiday.
大量贷款方都申请了这一还款豁免期。

In its financial-stability report, published on July 24th, the RBI noted that half of all loans went unpaid in April.
在7月24日发布的金融稳定报告中，RBI指出，4月份有一半的贷款没有偿还。

Fully twothirds of loans made by publicly controlled banks, which hold 70% of the industry's assets, were unpaid.
国有银行持有金融业70%的资产，其中整整三分之二的贷款没有偿还。

A smaller yet sizeable chunk of lending went unpaid at private banks, from a third of total loans at domestic lenders to a tenth at foreign ones.
私人银行拖欠的贷款比例较小，从国内银行贷款总额的三分之一，到外国银行的十分之一。

One reason for the disparity between private and public lenders is that different banks attract different sorts of borrowers.
私有和国有银行之间差距的原因之一是，不同银行吸引着不同类型的借款方。

Small and medium-sized firms, which rely on state-run lenders, were keen users of the moratorium.
依赖国有银行的中小型企业是延期偿付的热心用户。

These are unlikely to have huge cash buffers; as revenues dried up they may have had little recourse but to defer loan payments.
他们不可能有大量现金缓冲；随着收入枯竭，他们可能没有什么追索权，只能延期支付贷款。

By contrast, foreign banks mainly serve multinational companies with deeper pockets.
相比之下，外资银行主要服务于财力雄厚的跨国公司。

Some banks asked borrowers to opt in to the scheme.
一些银行要求借款方选择加入该方案。

Others at first employed a more generous "opt-out" approach, though they have since changed tack.
起初其他银行采取了更加宽容的“选择不参与”方案，尽管后来他们改变了策略。