J&K needs to be at par with national average in banking sector performance: CS

STATE TIMES NEWS

SRINAGAR: All the banks in association with line departments need to work in tandem to ensure J&K UT is at par with National Average in the parameters that define performance in the banking sector. We should strive hard for J&K to be ranked number one in the country.
This was stated by Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta while chairing 11th meeting of Union Territory Level Bankers’ Committee (UTLBC) held at SKICC, Srinagar on Tuesday.
MD & CEO J&K Bank- Convenor J&K UTLBC- Baldev Prakash, Principal Secretary Housing & Urban Development Prashant Goyal, Principal Secretary, Finance Santosh D. Vaidya, various Administrative Secretaries, General Manager RBI, Sandeep Mittal, General Manager NABARD Sandeep Sharma and other senior functionaries of the Government, RBI, NABARD, Banks, departmental Heads, insurance companies and Lead District Managers were present on the occasion.
While taking review of employment generation program Swarozgar Utsav- which Chief Secretary launched during the 10th meeting of J&K UTLBC- Dr. Mehta urged upon the banks to put in place a well drilled mechanism for saturating self- employment in J&K.
“By generating employment through Swarozgar Utsav and other like campaigns we are doing a great service to our young generation, UT and nation in general. Seeing the potential and requirement in J&K, there should be no reason not to achieve 100% targets set under this program,” he said.
J&K at the moment is doing exceptionally well in major sectors like Health, Rural Development but needs to do more to saturate self-employment, he said.
“Bringing unemployment down is our main motive. “Banks need to come forward and provide financial assistance to the unemployed youth who genuinely need it for achieving the gainful employment. We need to show empathy towards the unemployed youth in guiding them towards the path of prosperity and self-sufficiency through various credit facilities tailored in accordance to their entrepreneurial aspirations, he stated.
He identified various areas like Pledge Financing for Agriculture Commodities through Electronic Negotiable Warehouse Receipt (e-NWR), Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, Financing to FPOs by Banks, PM Weavers’ Mudra Yojana, Credit Card Scheme for Artisans & Weavers of Handicrafts & Handlooms, Stand Up India & CD ratio where Banks need to improve their performance.
Earlier in his welcome address, Baldev Prakash expressed gratitude to Chief Secretary for his consistent support and guidance to the forum through a number of well-founded initiatives to address and accelerate the resolutions for long pending issues associated with the forum.
While assuring J&K Government that banks operating in J&K UT will continue to extend all possible support for implementing the programmes and schemes aimed at entrepreneurial development, employment generation and poverty alleviation in the UT, he pointed out that the “Swarozgar Utsav” generated good response and banks have sanctioned loans of Rs.1,032 Crore to 55,756 beneficiaries till date. He stated that the campaign shall continue with full vigour so that the objective of saturating of self- employment is realized.”
Earlier, General Manager J&K Bank, Syed Rais Maqbool while making presentation on the financial achievements of various banks in different sectors.