The Odisha government on February 22 asked nationalized banks to cover all unbanked panchayats in the state either by way of establishing branches or through banking correspondents as almost 75 per cent of the panchayats across the state do not have banks.
The fact that credit flow had also come down was a matter of concern for the government which asked the banks to step up their credit deposit ration.
It was also underlined that 70 per cent of the credit flow to the agriculture sector was from cooperative banks whereas commercial banks financed only 30 per cent to the crucial primary sector.
Addressing the State Level Bankers Coordination meeting here on Monday, Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi wanted bankers to prioritise advance of loan to the agriculture and MSME sectors.
He said the “core of banking activity is the advance of credit. Programmes like start up India, employment generation, livelihood enhancement etc remain unrealised without adequate credit flow to agriculture and MS& ME sectors”.
The commercial banks need to step up flow of credit and be at par with cooperative banks as far as agriculture sector is concerned, he said.
The Credit Deposit ratio by end of December, 2014 was around 76 per cent which came down to around 72 per cent by end of December, 2015 causing concern said Padhi.
Emphasising on opening of banks in unbanked gram panchayats of the backward districts like Malkangiri, Nuapada, Nawarangpur and Kandhamal, the Chief Secretary said government would bear the cost of V-Sat connectivity and provide office space to the banks that would open new branches in such areas.
The government has also decided transact all gram panchayat funds, grants and subsidies to people etc through the bank at the panchayat level.
Additional Chief Secretary Finance R. Balakrishnan suggested formation of thematic sub-groups on various sectors for more focused growth strategies.
The sectors like agriculture, fishery, poultry, textile, MS&ME, handicraft, food processing etc were suggested to be dealt separately through these subgroups.
He felt that secretary of the concerned departments, commercial banks interested in a sector and one subject expert as members in each of these thematic sub-groups.
Official sources said total number of banks in Odisha increased to 4765 by the end of December, 2015 out of which 2604 branches are in rural areas. But till now more near about 75 per cent of the remote GPs do not have branch of any bank.
The position in the banks in the state has increased to 208753.59 cr by December, 2015 thereby showing a growth of around 9.63 per cent over last year for the same period.
Yet the credit within the state has declined. Chairman SLBC Sricharan Singh, ED of UCo Bank, Regional Director RBI P.K. Jena, G.M.SBI A. Choudhury, CGM NABARD S.K. Kale, Principal Secretaries/Secretaries of various departments, Lead Banks from various districts, insurance companies along with senior officers from concerned departments attended the meeting.
Source: The Statesman
