'Be proactive, lend liberally'

Vijayawada: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy called upon the bankers to adopt a positive approach towards educational and housing sectors and move ahead with a proactive action plan for extending loans to the two sectors. Addressing the 222nd state-level bankers committee (SLBC) meeting here on Friday, the Chief Minister expressed displeasure over the banks for not reaching the target in extending loans to the beneficiaries. The banks could extend loans up to 42.91 % and 33.58 % only of the targets fixed for the educational and housing sectors, respectively, in the present fiscal.

He said the government has so far distributed 30.75 lakh house sites free of cost to women and the necessary sand is supplied freely for the construction of houses while steel and cement are being supplied at subsidy rates. Reminding the bankers that they have agreed in the last meeting to provide a loan of Rs 35,000 each for the beneficiaries additionally at 3 per cent interest which would be reimbursed by the government, the CM asked them to provide loans for the rest of the beneficiaries as early as possible.

The government will begin the construction of an additional three lakh houses in April, he said, adding that total 30.75 lakh houses will be built for the poor. He asked the bankers to extend loans to all the beneficiaries saying that the worth of the houses would go up to Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh each once they are ready. In this context, bankers should become proactive and extend more loans to the beneficiaries, he suggested.

Speaking about short-term crop loans extended to the farmers in the agricultural sector, the Chief Minister said targets were reached up to 83.36 % only. Bankers should also concentrate on achieving the targets fully, he added. Jagan said that only Rs 1,126 crore was provided as loans to tenant farmers in the first nine months of the present fiscal as against the target of Rs 4,000 crore to 1,63,811 tenant farmers. Bankers must stand by the tenant farmers and extend them loans liberally as Rythu Bharosa is being implemented for them and all the details are being digitalized and details of the cultivation are being e-cropped, he said. Higher amounts of loan should be granted to the tenant farmers also as per the details available with the bankers, he added.

The CM also said that while banks are paying only 4 per cent interest on the savings of women's self-help groups, they are collecting more interest on the loans granted to them. He asked the bankers to reconsider it and pay more interest on savings of women's groups.

Lauding the bankers for extending loans liberally to petty traders, Jagan asked them to display the same enthusiasm and stand by them in future also supporting Jagananna Thodu. At a time when the government is trying to change the rural landscape through RBKs, digital libraries, English medium schools, village and ward secretariats, skill development centers in all the Assembly constituencies and a Skill Development University for improving the skills of the youth and make them stand on their own, it is a must for banks to play more proactive role and encourage the changing economic scenario, he said. "Banks should play a key role in the building of these institutions," he added.

Mentioning about the success of the Global Investors Summit at Visakhapatnam that resulted in the possible investments worth Rs 13,05,663 crore from 352 MoUs which would provide employment to 6,03,223 persons, the CM appealed to the bankers to come forward to extend loans to the entrepreneurs and the ancillary MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) to achieve solid economic growth and put the state on the development path.

Chief Secretary Dr K S Jawahar Reddy, Special Chief Secretaries Ajay Jain (Housing), Y Sri Lakshmi (MA&UD), Finance Secretary KVV Satyanarayana, Minority Welfare Secretary A Md Imtiaz, AP TIDCO MD Ch Sridhar, Agriculture Commissioner CH Harikiran, APIIC VC & MD G Srijana, Union Bank of India MD & CEO Manimekhalai, NABARD CGM MR Gopal and officials of various banks were present.