STATE TIMES NEWS
SRINAGAR: Credit aggregating to Rs. 5,631.13 Cr has been disbursed to 1,89,500 beneficiaries in various sectors of the State economy during the first half of FY 2016-17 against envisaged Annual Credit Plan of Rs.27,649.47 Cr for 12,42,750 beneficiaries under priority and non-priority sectors by the 46 banks and financial institutions operating in the State, registering an achievement of 20 pc in financial terms and 15 pc in physical terms. J&K Bank alone has disbursed Rs 3,431.70 Cr accounting for 61 pc of the total credit disbursed. Chairman and CEO J&K Bank Parvez Ahmad, who is also Convener J&K SLBC, stated in his address to 102nd meeting of J&K State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) held at Jammu on Thursday to review performance of banking sector at the end of first half of the current financial year (2016-17).
Chief Secretary J&K Government, B.R Sharma presided over the meeting which inter alia was attended by Financial Commissioner Agriculture Production Pramod Jain; Financial Commissioner Revenue. Lokesh Dutt Jha; Commissioner/ Secretary Finance Navin Kumar Chaudhary; Regional Director RBI N.K Sahu, Chief General Manager NABARD Vijay Kumar, Commissioner/ Secretaries of State Government, senior officers of banks, RBI, NABARD, government departments, SIDBI, developmental agencies and representatives of various insurance companies. Appreciating the role played by the banks in the State, particularly by J&K Bank, in rolling out the demonetization process, Chief Secretary, J&K Government B.R Sharma said that despite working under testing conditions, the banks have done a commendable job in the State viz-a-viz other states of the country for carrying forward this national objective.
He praised the measures taken by the banks in terms of working for extended hours and also on holidays for the convenience of the people of the State for minimizing their temporary hardships during the roll out. He also emphasized the need for deployment of more credit to various sectors of economy, so as to improve the Credit Deposit Ratio to the targeted level of 55 pc and 60 pc by March 2017 and March 2018 respectively.
Referring to the dip in the Credit Deposit Ratio of the state from 49.11 pc as on 31.03.2016 to 47.64 pc as on 30.09.2016, Chairman and CEO Parvez Ahmed stated that the prolonged turmoil and disturbance in Kashmir Valley has adversely affected the banking activities causing sluggish credit dispensation besides leading to stress / impairment in the credit portfolio of the banks across the State.
“J&K SLBC has sought special dispensation from Reserve Bank of India in terms of providing relief to the affected borrowers and allowing banks to tide over the impact on the asset classification”, he said. He expressed optimism that RBI and State Government will consider the same. Giving an account of the credit disbursement under Agriculture Sector, Chairman stated that banks operating in the state have disbursed an amount of Rs.740.73 Cr in favour of 48,732 beneficiaries during the H1 of FY 2016-17 registering an achievement of 13 pc in financial terms and 8 pc in physical terms.
Stressing upon the need to enhance credit flow to Agriculture Sector especially the Crop Loan segment, the house advised the banks to bridge the credit gaps in the sector to facilitate better productivity and employment generation in the State. The House was informed that under Micro & Small Enterprises Sector, banks have disbursed an amount of Rs 1,386.83 Cr in favour of 34,637 beneficiaries during the period under review thereby registering an achievement of 21 pc in financial terms and 18 pc in physical terms.
Under Education and Housing Sectors banks have disbursed an amount of Rs 55.42 Cr and Rs.248.05 Cr respectively during the period under review thereby registering an achievement of 8 pc in financial terms in both the sectors.
CGM, NABARD emphasized upon the banks the
need for dispensing cash to
the farming community in view of the requirement for Rabi season.
The banks and the concerned government departments were also advised to make coordinated efforts for creating awareness among the masses on importance and benefits of seeding of Aadhaar numbers and mobile numbers in the bank account and initiate measures to complete the process as soon as possible.
Emphasising the need for providing easy access to the banking facilities, Regional Director, RBI N.K Sahu advised the banks to complete the process of opening brick and mortar branches in the 104 identified villages in the State having population more than 5000 within the stipulated timeline of 31st March, 2017.
