The district level review committee (DlRC) for bankers which was held in the headquarters town here recently, reflected a gloomy picture as per on performance of various banks on priority sector lending.
In the last fiscal year, all SCBs (scheduled commercial banks) of the district could attain 121.6 per cent against their allocated target for agriculture sector.
This placed Baleswar at the 13th position in the entire State behind Angul, Bargarh, Bolangir, Boudh, Cuttack, Deogarh, Jagatsingpur, Jajpur, Kendrapada, Khurda, Rayagada and Sambalpur.
For a district, which is known as the food bowl of Odisha and where agriculture is the primary source of income for more than 70 per cent of the population, the performance of the banks in disbursal of agricultural loans is dismal since most farmers are individuals and own very small tract of land.
On the other hand, the district has lent Rs 813.16 crore as part of the indirect lending to agriculture and allied activities. This comprises of 34.26 per cent of the total lending to the indirect agriculture and allied activities sector in the entire State.
As per the 19th livestock Census (2012), Baleswar has the second highest number of cattle (behind Mayurbhanj), third highest number of goats (behind Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar) and seventh highest number of poultry (behind Bolangir, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh) in the State. Therefore, the analysis of the lending numbers for the allied activities such as dairy and fishing comes as a surprise and also indicates the lackadaisical approach of the SCBs when it comes to these pivotal sectors. The SCBs managed to achieve only 21.92 per cent of their target of Rs264.75 crore in 2015-16.
Baleswar has the fifth highest number of Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises (MSMEs) in the State, accounting for 6 per cent of the total MSME units in Odisha. Given this background, it is yet again disappointing to note that SCBs managed to achieve only 83.55 per cent of the allocated target of Rs687.71 crore for last financial year, as against an achievement percentage of 128.67 for the entire State. Only five other districts such as Boudh, Gajapati, Keonjhar, Nabarangapur and Nayagarh have a lower achievement in the State in terms of PSl (priority sector lending) to the MSMEs.
The comparison with the adjoining district of Mayurbhanj reveals a stark difference. Mayurbhanj had an achievement of 160 per cent i.e. it achieved a lending of Rs340.95 crore against the target of Rs212.96 crore.
The story of underperformance continues in education and housing sector as well as Baleswar reported an achievement of only 17.90 per cent and 61.38 per cent for education and housing sector respectively. The same achievement for the entire State stood at 22.72 per cent (education) and 86.41 per cent (housing).
In the current financial year, the underperformance of SlP continues to dog. The figure available till June against the target is not encouraging.
The achievement till first quarter ending June 30 figures are crop loan( 27 per cent) , fishery( 1 per cent), dairy (2 per cent), education(3 per cent).
“Baleswar being a prominent agrarian district, most of the growth and development depend on the banks’ lending performance. However, the figures in the priority sector lending are very discouraging. There is a massive need of improvement,” said Baleswar MP R Jena.
Among others, DlRC chairman and district Collector Pramod Das, bank, RBI, Nabard representatives, ZP president, and PD DRDA were present.