Odisha Govt asks Banks to boost up CD Ratio, cover unbanked GPs
Bhubaneswar, 22nd Feb: Govt has asked commercial and nationalized banks to boost up Credit Deposit (CD) Ratio in the State, cover unbanked GPs either through Brick & Mortar branches of through Banking Correspondents and prioritize advance of loan to the agriculture and MSME sectors.
Chief Secretary Sri Aditya Prasad Padhi said these to banks while addressing the Key note Session of the State Level Bankers Coordination Meeting held in the premises of Hotel Mayfair today. Sri Padhi said, “core of banking activity is the advance of credit.
The credit flow to entrepreneurs is the life & blood channel of the economy. The programmes like start up India,
employment generation, livelihood enhancement etc remain unrealized without adequate credit flow to agriculture and MS& ME sectors”. He further added that around 70% of the credit flow to agriculture was from cooperative banks and commercial banks only financed about 30%. He urged upon the banks to improve agricultural financing at per with cooperative banks.
Emphasizing on opening of banks in unbanked GPs of the backward districts like Malkangiri, Nuapada, Nabarangpur and Kandhamal, Chief Secretary said that Govt would bear the cost of V-Sat connectivity and provide office space at GP level to the banks that would open new branches in those areas.
Earlier Govt had also decided transact all GP funds, Govt grants to GPS and subsidies to people etc through the bank at GP level. The Additional Chief Secretary Finance Sri R. Balakrishnan addressing the meeting, emphasized on formation of thematic sub-groups on various sectors for more focused growth strategies.
The sectors like agriculture, fishery, poultry, textile, MS&ME, handicraft, food processing etc were suggested to be dealt separately through these sub-groups. Sri Balakrishnan suggested including Secretary of the concerned
department, commercial banks interested in a sector and one subject expert as members in each of these thematic sub-groups. It was decided to hold the meetings of these sub-groups more frequently to review of the
progress and sort out he issues.
Available data show that total number of banks in Odisha has increased to 4765 by the end of December, 2015 out of which 2604 branches are in rural areas. Around 99 new branches have been opened in the State during the period from April, 2015 to December, 2015. Till now more near about 75% of the remote GPs do not have branch of any bank.
The deposit in the Banks in the State has increased to 208753.59 cr by December, 2015 thereby showing a growth of around 9.63% over last year for the same period. On the other hand, the credit advance has come down during the period from December, 2014 to December, 2015.
The Credit Deposit ratio by end of December, 2014 was around 76% which came down to around 72% by end of
December, 2015. Chief Secretary and Development Commissioner expressed concern over this and urged upon the banks to enhance the credit investment inside the State. Of course, the credit advance to Priority Sector including the agriculture has increased to 66072 cr by December, 2015 thereby showing an increase of around 20% over the last year.
Chairman SLBC Sricharan Singh ED of U Co Bank, Regional director RBI Sri P.K. Jena, G.M.SBI Sri A. Choudhury, CGM NABARD Sri S.K. Kale, Principal Secretaries/Secretaries of various departments, Lead Banks from various districts, insurance companies along with senior officers from concerned departments attended the meeting. The meeting was on by the time of the preparation of this report.