Banks fail in agriculture funding, rue State officials

Bhubaneswar: State Development Commissioner (DC) and Agriculture Production Commissioner (APC) Rabi Narayan Senapati expressed his concern over the bankers’ reluctance to provide loans to agriculture and allied sectors. He was addressing the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) here on Thursday. Senapati revealed that banks as a whole have lent Rs 6,752 crore against the target of Rs 9,166 crore for the agriculture sector. This year, an ambitious target of Rs 12,924 crore has been set for the banks for funding the primary sector of the State, he said.  Principal Secretary of Finance JK Mohapatra and Principal Secretary of Agriculture RL Jamuda echoed the concern of Senapati. Commissioner-cum-Secretary of Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Satyabrat Sahu came down heavily on the erring bankers, who are just not providing enough loans to the sector.  Gauging the mood of the top bureaucrats, SLBC Chairman and UCO Bank Executive Director Ajai Kumar said the banks in Odisha have to finance more and more to the agriculture sector to enhance the income of farmers. Robust institutional credit would increase agriculture production and productivity, which in its turn would boost the State’s economy, he said.  Expressing concern over the fact that a large number of applications under pisciculture and horticulture are pending with different bank branches, Kumar said steps should be taken for their disposal without further delay. The banks’ proactive role in providing finance to farmers would help them come out of the clutches of the private moneylenders, he said. He, however, observed that the State Annual Credit Plan of Rs 25,233 crore for the year 2011-12 "is a very high amount." Under the Annual Credit Plan 2010-11, the achievement of banks in all sectors was 97 per cent. The percentage of priority sector advances to total advances is 57.54 per cent against the national parameter of 40 per cent.  However, the credit target for the current fiscal is on the higher side, he added.  Kumar emphasised that the banks should increase their CD ratio to meet the target. Even though the present CD ratio of the banks as a whole in the State is 65 per cent, some of the banks have not achieved the CD ratio of the national parameter of 60 per cent, he pointed out.  On the Financial Inclusion Plan, he said all the 1,878 villages with more than 2,000-population would be covered under banking facilities by March 2012.  Kumar also said that the banks should give more stress on financing to the MSME sector for the development of the State. Kumar said the banksm which have been selected to open RSETIs (Rural Self Employment Training Institutes) in their respective lead districts, should set up them without further delay.  Among others, RBI Regional Director B.K.Bhoi, NABARD Chief General Manager MK Mudgal, SBI Chief General Manager CH Narasimha Rao and UCO Bank General Manager and SLBC convener SK Dey Purkayastha were present at the meeting. Many bankers expressed their concern overthe poor recovery performance, particularly under the Government-sponsored schemes.

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