The State Government on Wednesday asked all banks to ensure adequate and timely advance of loans to farmers for the current Rabi season and to extend Kharif loan recovery in view of the draught condition.
Bankers were appealed in this regard at a State-level Bakers Committee (SlBC) meeting held here wherein Chief Secretary GC Pati attended. Pati directed bankers to revise the unit wise scale of finance for Rabi so that adequate money would be available to the farmers and, thus, they would not borrow from any other source.
The banks were also asked to ensure 100 per cent agricultural insurance of the crops so as to protect the farmers from any loss caused by calamities.
It was decided that no bank would collect Kharif loan from the famers at present and all banks will extend agricultural loans to the farmers for Rabi crop during 2015-16. The credit requirement through Kisan Credit Cards will be encouraged. Technical persons of the banks will advise farmers to go for more non-paddy cultivation to make up the loss incurred during the Khariff. As scarcity of fodder is likely to be encountered more particularly in draught affected areas, banks will also finance for fodder cultivation during this season.
As of now, the District level Technical Committees in 15 drought-hit districts have already revised the scale of loan for the Rabi season.
Development Commissioner UN Behera urged upon the banks to increase the CD ratios in the State to 85 per cent. The CD ratio has come down to 70 per cent by September, 2015 from 74 per cent during the corresponding period of 2014.
Though the overall CD ratio in the State is above the benchmarking ratio of 60 per cent, in some districts it is found below 40 per cent. The lead Branch Managers (lDM) of the districts having CD ration below 40 per cent have been asked to constitute sub-committees of the DCC and take necessary steps to scale up the CD ratio.