Banks have stopped issuing preferential loans to large electronics manufacturers for the purchase of components

Large Russian developers of base stations, smartphones, data storage systems and other equipment said that banks stopped issuing preferential loans for the purchase of components within the framework of the Ministry of Digital Development and returned rates to market rates of 15–20%. They attribute this to the exhaustion of subsidizing funds. In connection with the increase in the key rate, the Central Bank has already requested additional funding from the government.

Several Kommersant interlocutors among large electronics manufacturers reported that they had switched to market rates (15–20% per annum) on loans within the framework of government decree No. 407. According to them, this happened on November 1st. Banks justify the rate increase by the exhaustion of funds for subsidies for the purchase of electronic component base (ECB), sources say.

In total, the resolution provided for the participation of about 13 banks in the program, the largest of them being VTB, Sberbank, Promsvyazbank, Alfa Bank. None of these banks responded to Kommersant’s request.

It is possible to raise rates on already issued loans only when it is stipulated in the loan agreement itself – for example, a floating rate linked to the key rate, says Oleg Izumrudov, executive director of the Consortium of Russian Developers of Data Storage Systems.

The Ministry of Digital Development told Kommersant that, taking into account the change in the key rate, the ministry sent a request for additional funding from the program “development of the electronic and radio-electronic industry.” “Now all the necessary funds to compensate the interest rate on previously issued loans are provided to the banks in full, in accordance with the concluded agreements between the companies and the banks,” adds a representative of the ministry. According to him, the possibility of extending preferential loans for the radio electronics industry until 2024 is also being explored.

One of the top managers at a large Russian electronics manufacturer also knows that the limit allocated as subsidies for the purchase of components has been exhausted. According to him, the Ministry of Digital Development is preparing a new resolution to subsidize purchases for 2024, but the preferential rate will be increased in proportion to the key rate of the Central Bank. “In any case, if rates are raised, the development of Russian electronics will slow down and companies will be less willing to take advantage of preferential lending,” says the source.

Executive Director of the Association of Electronics Developers and Manufacturers (ARPE) Ivan Pokrovsky believes that if credit rates for the purchase of domestic electronic components increase, it will be difficult to finance the purchases themselves from companies, and the risks of cash gaps will also increase, but this will not affect the choice of components, since the scope of application domestic components are determined by regulation. “Now there is practically no price competition between Russian and imported components; for objective reasons, Russian ones are tens of percent more expensive, for some groups – two to three times,” he notes.

However, according to the director of the Promobit company (manufacturer of servers and storage systems Bitblaze) Maxim Koposov, a small number of Russian companies can apply for such preferential loans, since the rest do not need a loan of 3 billion rubles. “The minimum loan threshold needs to be lowered so that more companies can invest in their own projects,” he believes.

Timofey Kornev, Nikita Korolev