The 131st State level Bankers’ Committee (SlBC) Meeting was held here on Wednesday with UCO Bank General Manager N Mohanty presiding over it and Finance Minister Prasanna Acharya guiding the deliberations.
UCO Bank General Manger and SlBC Convenor N Sambasivarao referred to “the proactive role played by SlBC” for achievements of various parameters by the banks in the State.
It was revealed that the credit-deposit (CD) ratio of the commercial banks as a whole in the State is 86.94 per cent. The banks which have not achieved the CD ratio of the national parameter of 60 per cent were asked to do so immediately. The percentage of the priority sector advances to the total advance is 59.55 per cent against the national parameter of 40 per cent.
According to a Press release of the SlBC, the banks in the State have achieved all mandatory national parameters as on March 31, 2013. On a year-to-year basis, the deposits and advances increased by 12.85 per cent and 38.17 per cent, respectively. The banks’ performance in respect of the CD ratio and priority sector advance is quite satisfactory. The total advance to agriculture sector is Rs 18,715 crore, which is 25.77 per cent of the total advance against the national parameter of 18 per cent.
Under Annual Credit Plan 2012-13, the achievement of the banks in all sectors up to March 31, 2013 was 79 per cent. In the backdrop of extension of interest subvention on short-term and long-term agricultural loans made by the PSU and private banks and RRBs by the State Government, all banks were advised to finance more and more to the agriculture sector to enhance the income of the farmers and increase agriculture productions and productivity to boost the State’s economy, the Press release said.
The banks have financed Rs 144.55 crore to 8,557 beneficiaries under the education loan scheme. In the second stage of implementation of Direct Benefit Transfer in the country and first in the State, four districts Cuttack, Puri, Balangir and Subarnapur have been identified.
The banks were advised to give more stress on financing to the MSME sector, the release said.
The banks continued expressing concern over the poor recovery performance, particularly under the Government-sponsored schemes, the release added.