Jammu, March 10, (Scoop News)- Chief Secretary, Mohammad Iqbal Khandey, Monday reiterated State Governments priority to achieve 100 percent coverage of Farmers under the Kissan Credit Card (KCC) scheme and directed that the State Agricultural Production Department in cooperation with banks should ensure that the set target is achieved at the earliest.
Speaking at the 92nd meeting of the State Level Banker’s Committee (SLBC), here, the Chief Secretary noted that although substantial progress has been achieved and 7.22 Lakh KCC’s have already been handed over to the farmers ending December 2013, there is need to show greater urgency in achieving the set target of covering 10.09 lakh farmer families within the next few months, given the benefits attached with it for the farming community.
The Chief Secretary laid emphasis on improving the performance under Handicraft/Handloom/Artisan/Weaver Credit Card Scheme saying that these sectors should receive special focus given the importance of the sector, besides Banks should improve the credit disbursement performance under these schemes.
On mediocre performance of the Banks in achieving the Annual Credit Plan 2013-14 targets under the Priority sector advances, the Chief Secretary said that over all performances indicates that Banks in J&K are falling short in their responsibilities to achieve set targets besides it also indicates a sluggish interest in lending advances. He called for better working relationship between government departments and financial institutions to address short falls.
The Committee also felt the need to generate greater awareness among the student community regarding educational/vocational Training loan Schemes besides it called for improving the performance by the banks in clearing sanctioned pending cases and advancing credit under the 5 major Government sponsored schemes viz. NRLM,PMEGP,SJSRY,JKSES and SC/ST/OBC in the State.
The 92nd SLBC also reviewed the progress in setting up of Rural Self- Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) in all 22 Districts, removal of hurdles to enforce SARFAESI Act, Corporate Social Responsibility Plan/initiatives of Banks, Financial Inclusion Plan, implementation of Electronic Benefit Transfer Scheme, Branch Expansion Plans of Banks etc.
Earlier, Chairman J&K Bank Mushtaq Ahmad while commenting on the performance of the banks in the State emphasized that both the Central and the State Governments have initiated several measures to achieve financial inclusion and Banks have also strived to make their role more visible to promote the economy of the state, although there is scope for further improvement particularly in advancing flow of credit to the priority sector.
While reviewing sector-wise performance of banks under Priority Sector the Chairman said that under Agriculture Sector the banks have provided credit aggregating to Rs.1,570 Crore to 1,31,366 beneficiaries against a target of Rs.3,212.98 Crore favouring 3,91,773 beneficiaries, registering an achievement of 49% in financial terms and 34% in physical terms upto 31st December 2013.
Under Micro & Small Enterprises Sector, banks have disbursed total amount of Rs 1,572.26 Crore in favour of 55,263 beneficiaries against the annual target of Rs 3,572.86 Crore favouring 1,34,362 beneficiaries registering an achievement of 44% and 41% in Financial and Physical terms respectively
Under Education Sector banks have disbursed total amount of Rs.65.77 Crore in favour of 3,763 beneficiaries by the end of December 2013.
Under Housing Sector, banks have disbursed total amount of Rs.800.38 Crore in favour of 28,243 beneficiaries by the end of December 2013.
In Non-Priority Sector, banks have disbursed Rs.3,264.22 Crore against a target of Rs 6180.22 Crore thereby achieving 52.82% of target in financial terms.
Financial Commissioner, Industries and Commerce, Khurshid Ahmad Ganai, Principal Secretary Planning and Development Mr B R Sharma, Principal Secretary Finance Mr B B Vyas, Regional Director RBI K K Saraf, Director DFS, Union Ministry of Finance, Dr. Alok Pandey, Chief General Manager NABARD B G Mukhopadhyay, representatives of various National Banking Institutions, Administrative Secretaries and heads of various departments were present in the meeting.
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