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NEW DELHI - India will expand federal guarantees on loans to businesses to 4.5 trillion rupees ($60.7 billion) from an earlier limit of 3 trillion rupees, its finance minister said on Monday, part of steps to support businesses hit by coronavirus pandemic.

The government will also provide guarantee of 1.1 trillion rupees on loans to the pandemic-hit health sector and medical infrastructure, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters.

The Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS), launched last year, has helped cash-starved small businesses to raise funds during the pandemic lockdown for working capital and to meet their orders.

(Reporting by Aftab Ahmed and Manoj Kumar; Editing by Toby Chopra)