Banks have been asked to open more branches in unbanked Gram Panchayats and boost up credit deposit ratio in the State. They have also been asked to achieve targets in sanction and disbursal of loans under agriculture and allied sectors.

This has been told to them by Chief Secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra and Additional Chief Secretary, Finance Sri Upendranath Behera in the State level Bankers Committee ( SLBC) meeting held today in the premises of the convention hall of Mayfair. Emphasizing on cent percent achievement of credit deposit ratio of banks, ACS Finance Sri Behera said that there has to be an in-depth exercise for removing ground level bottlenecks on the way of boosting up credit deposit ratio. Banks have been asked to report the actual progress and bottlenecks to SLBC in the matter.

Chief Secretary Sri Mohapatra has emphasized upon disbursement of crop loans and loans for promotion of diary projects in the State. Sri Mohapatra has said that Govt. has made budget provisions for interest subvention on short term cop loan, long terms crop loan, diary projects, fishery projects and other allied activities. The banks have to reciprocate in the matter and make full utilization of the budgeted amount in these sectors. ACS finance has said that banks coming forward to open branches in unbanked GPs will be provided space in Panchayat buildings and Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendras free of cost for 5 years. Sri Behera has also said that banks opening their branches in unbanked GPs will be given access to Govt funds meant for that GP. Chief Secretary Sri Mohapatra has asked the Controlling Heads of the Commercial banks to cover all he unbanked GPs by end this Plan period.

A Banking Atlas of Odisha prepared by Odisha Space Application Center was presented in the meeting. This atlas has been prepared for achieving regional parity in banking facilities and bringing all the villages of Odisha under banking service. The data base contains the availability of banking and ATM facilities in the State, which GPs and Villages do not have banks/ATMs along with the data relating to the distance of banks form each village.

The Director Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India Dr Alok Pande joining the meeting said that in the financial year 2013-14 there has been visible progress in Odisha with regard to opening of new branches . During this year a total number of 458 new branches have been opened which is much higher in comparison to 229 in 2012013 and 260 in 2013-14. However, Dr Pande urged upon the banks to have parity in opening of ATMs as there is a large regional disparity in this matter. He also asked banks to give their suggestions regarding a proposal for credit guarantee scheme for those who do not have access to bank credits.

Available data shows as of 31st March, 2014 a total number of 4281 branches of various banks are operating in different parts of Odisha out of which 2335 are in rural area, 1143 are in semi urban area and 803 are in urban area. In the FY 2013-14 the growth rate in opening of braches has been 11.95% over the last year. Deposits in the banks in the State have increased from Rs.146465 cr as of March, 2013 to Rs. 169642 cr as of March,2014. The year on incremental deposit growth is around 15.82%. The incremental growth in total credit advance by March,2014 has been 13.65%.

Though the percentage of propriety sector loans has been around 55.72 against national average of 40, still than there are a large pendency in priority sector loan applications. The agricultural loans advanced by banks in the State have increased from Rs.24364 cr as of March,2013 to Rs.27366 cr as of March,2014.

The share of agricultural credit in total advance is around 29% against the national average of 18%. Similarly, the loans to MSMEs have increased from Rs.17209cr by 2013 March to Rs20425 cr by March,2014 registering an incremental growth of 18.69%. The Chairman SLBC Sri S. Chandra Sekhar has urged upon all the banks to strive hard for achieving Govt targets for 2014-15 in each sector from the begging of the current financial year.

Principal Secretary Agriculture Sri Rajesh Verma, Secretary Co-operation Sri Bishnupada Sethy, Secretary MSME Sri Panchanana Dash, Director Agriculture Sri S.Gopalan, Director Horticulture Sri Sanjeeb Chadha, the Regional Director RBI Sri P.K.Jena, CGM NABARD Sri S.K. Kara, G.M.SBI Dr P.V. Mutri along with secretaries and senior officers of concerned departments, controlling heads and regional managers of all commercial banks, public sector banks, private banks and insurance companies participated in deliberations.

Source - http://www.orissadiary.com/