INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana companies received nearly $9.5 billion in federal loans designed to save jobs and businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. New information released by the U.S. Treasury and Small Business Administration show at least 95 Hoosier businesses received loans of $5 million to $10 million from the Paycheck Protection Program.
Overall, more than 79,000 Indiana businesses received loans. Together, the Treasury says they promised to keep more than 1 million workers on the payroll through June 30.
Indiana Loans
The partial list of recipients released by the federal government includes thousands of well-known Indiana companies, museums, churches, schools and non-profit groups.
That list includes places like the Indianapolis Zoo that received $2 - $5 million with the promise of retaining 394 jobs. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana received between $350,000 and $1 million and said it hoped to maintain 37 positions. Oaken Barrel Brewing Co in Greenwood planned to keep 50 workers with the loan that was in the $150,000 - $350,000 range.
Indiana schools and universities also used the PPP loan program. Indianapolis-based Martin University received between $350,000 and $1 million. Franklin College received between $2 million and $5 million. Roncalli High School took out a loan somewhere between $1 million and $2 million, and the Lighthouse Academy charter schools in Indianapolis received between $350,000 and $1 million.
Details released by the federal government name about 650,000 companies nationwide that received $150,000 or more. That’s just a fraction of the more than 5 million small companies that received loans.
Companies that received less than $150,000 are not identified by name.
The majority of Indiana companies – approximately 67,298 – received less than $150,000, so they were not identified by name.
13 Investigates’ review of the records found 1,598 companies received more than $1 million in loans.
Money from the Paycheck Protection Program is intended to pay workers, rent, mortgage interest and utilities. Businesses could apply for up to $10 million dollars, but the loans can be mostly forgiven if they are used largely to keep or quickly rehire workers and meet payroll needs.
According to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the loan recipients employed 51 million people nationwide before the pandemic began, or about 85% of all workers at companies with fewer than 500 employees. Not all of those jobs were saved. The government won't know how many were until companies apply to have the loans forgiven, a process that is just beginning.
The Treasury Department reports Indiana companies promised to retain about 1 million jobs — 598,595 of those positions are with companies that received more than $150,000 in loans.
Breakdown of Indiana PPP Loans
- $0 - $150,000 = 67,298
- $150K - $350K = 6,543
- $350K - $1M = 3713
- $1M - $2M = 1005
- $2M - $5M = 498
- $5M - $10M = 95
National Program Summary
In a summary of the program, the Treasury Department reported it had distributed $521 billion dollars, with the average loan worth $107,000.
The program initially was set to expire June 30 but was extended last week in order to distribute the remaining $132 billion earmarked for the program. Businesses now have until Aug. 8 to apply.
The administration has refused to release details on loans under $150,000, and that issue is at the center of a lawsuit by several news organizations trying to obtain that information.
The data released this week gives few details about loans to minority or veteran-owned businesses. Companies were not required to supply demographic data on their applications, and many entries about race and gender contained “unanswered.”
However, many minority-owned businesses don’t have employees, and so their loan amounts likely were under $150,000 and therefore not part of the data release. Senior administration officials who briefed reporters before the release said they hoped to get more information when owners submit applications for loan forgiveness over the next few months.
Treasury still was able to determine that 27 percent of the loan money went to low- and moderate-income areas, the officials said.
The Rush to Apply
The PPP was up and running just days after being approved by Congress in late March. It provided loans of up to $10 million for small businesses to help them recover from the government-ordered shutdowns and revenue losses caused by the virus outbreak. The ability to convert the loans to grants made the program particularly appealing.
Once opened April 3, the PPP sparked a flood of applications from desperate small business owners. The SBA approved more than 1.6 million loans worth $349 million in less than two weeks, exhausting the initial funding. Millions of other businesses had to wait nearly two more weeks for Congress to approve an additional $310 million. Nearly 3.2 million loans worth $172 billion were approved in the second round as of June 30.
