Despite the claim by the bankers that the credit-deposit (CD) ratio has been increasing in Odisha, the ratios of the public and private sector banks are in fact below the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) guideline in as many as 17 districts of the State.
So, the bankers have constituted a sub-committee to review the issue and initiate steps to achieve at least 60 per cent of the credit-deposit (CD) ratio target at the earliest to conform to the RBI norm.
The 131st State level Bankers’ Committee (SlBC) Meeting held here revealed that though the RBI guideline on the credit-deposit (CD) ratio has been fixed at a minimum 60 per cent, as many as 17 districts continue to have the ratio below this norm. The credit-deposit (CD) ratios of six districts, Boudh, Deograh, Jagatsinghpur, Kandhamal, Malkangiri and Sambalpur, are even below 40 per cent.
According to official sources, the below-60- per cent CD ratios are recorded in the districts of Angul, Boudh, Cuttack, Deogarah, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Kandhamal. Kendrapada, Keonhar, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Puri, Nuapada, Rayagada and Sambalpur.
Expressing concern at the SlBC meeting, Finance Minister Prasanna Acharya asked the public and private sector banks operating in the State to increase their advances in comparison to their collections of deposits in conformity with the RBI guidelines.
He also told the banks to open more branches in rural areas to ensure more credit particularly to the farm sector to avoid the risk of cheating by non-banking private organisations.
Meanwhile, the State has finalised its Annual Credit Plan (ACP) at Rs 30,796 crore for the year 2013-14 which is 40.55 per cent more than the achievement under Annual Credit Plan (ACP) 2012-13.