The State Government on Monday asked commercial banks to give more stress on financing of the MSME sector units for the development of the State.
Besides, it urged the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to form a sub-committee to explore possibility of increasing credit absorption capacity in agriculture, agri-allied and MSME sectors in the State.
The Additional Chief Secretary Finance made this proposal at the State-level Bankers’ Committee (SlBC) meeting held here in which RBI Regional Director RBI, Nabard CGM, controlling heads of all banks and Secretaries and Directors of various Governmnet departments representative of UIDAI and Insurance Companies attended.
UCO Bank General Manager and SlBC Convenor SK Nandi presided over the meeting. It was revealed as many as 22.50 lakh saving bank deposit accounts have been oponed under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) as on November 10. The banks were asked to open such accounts for all households by January 26, 2015.
The SlBC claimed that the CD ratio of banks in the State has stood at 74.26 per cent against the national parameter of 60 per cent. The percentage of priority Sector advances to total advance is 57.68 in state against national parameter of 40 per cent, it claimed.
Responding to State Government’s demand for opening of bank branches in rural areas, the SlBC Chairman requested State Government to ensure viability of new branches opened in remote rural areas under Financial Inclusion Plan.
The SlBC requested the State Government that the OPDR Act be strengthened in Odisha to dispose of all pending cases. Now total advance to agriculture sector in the State is `28,352.18 crore, the SlBC informed.