Pocharam bats for liberal farm loans

Hyderabad: Stating that seed sowing operation has started in many parts of the State following good rainfall, Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivasa Reddy requested the bankers to lend crop loans liberally. He also appealed to the bankers to encourage polyhouses cultivation for which the State government was providing upfront subsidy of 75 percent.

• Banks urged to encourage polyhouses cultivation
• Liberal finance for farm mechanization schemes sought
• Bankers complimented for renewing 98 percent of crop loans

He sought liberal financing of farm mechanisation schemes for which the government was providing 50 percent subsidy. He complimented the bankers for renewing 98 percent of targeted crop loans during the 2014-15 financial year.

The Agriculture Minister, who was the chief guest at the meeting on Tuesday to release Annual Credit Plan for the year 2015-16 and to review the performance of banks in the State for the quarter ended March 2015, launched the Annual Credit Plan.

Santanu Mukherjee, president SLBC & MD SBH presided over the meeting. Pradeep Chandra, Special Chief Secretary Finance, Parthasarathy, Principal Secretary Agriculture, K. Ramakrishna Rao, Secretary Finance, Subba Rao, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Finance, Viswanathan, Chief General Manager, SBH, J Sitapathi Sarma, Convener SLBC & GM SBH, VVV Satyanarayana, Chief General Manager, NABARD, G J Raju, General Manager, RBI , apart from bankers and officials from government departments were present.

Annual Credit Plan of 2015-16 has been drawn with an outlay of Rs 72,119 crores. Priority Sector Advances has lion's share of Rs 47,360 crores i.e. 66 percent Agriculture advances are projected at Rs 30,995 crores i.e 65 percent of Priority Sector advances.

Network of bank branches in the State crossed 4900 mark and reached 4919 and total deposits of the banks stood at Rs 3,28,181 crore with a growth of Rs 42,302 crore during the year. The total advances of the banks stood at Rs 3,54,166 crore with a growth of Rs 29,202 crore over March 2014.

The Annual Credit Plan targets of 2014-15 have been surpassed by banks in the State. Priority sector targets have been achieved to the extent of 119 percent and non priority sector targets to the extent of 290% taking the total achievement to 180 percent. Targets under Agricuture achieved to the extent of 100.16 percent with disbursals of Rs 27,276 crore. CD ratio Stood at 107.92 percent.CD ratio of our State is one of highest in the country.

Priority sector advances of the State stood at Rs 1,11,403 crore with a growth of Rs 8,785 crore during the year. Priority sector advances constitute 31.46 percent of total advances. Banks have lent Rs.18420 crore under Kharif/Rabi 2014-15 and achieved 98 percent of the targets.

Agricultural advances constitute 14.48 percent of total advances. Micro and small enterprises have grown by Rs 4,258 crore during the year and stood at Rs 33,559 crore. Targets under this category was achieved to the extent of 202 percent.

The banks have completed process of providing banking sevices in respect of identified villages having population above 2000. In respect of villages with population below 2000, 27 villages are left over and the same will be covered with banking services shortly, within the targeted time of August 14, 2015.

Under PMJDY, banks have opened 61.93 lakh accounts of which RuPay debit cards have been issued for 52.50 lakh accounts. Aadhaar seeding has been done for 41.85 lakh accounts and 29 FLCCs are functioning in the State which are regularly conducting financial literacy camps.

Special Chief Secretary Finance Pradeep Chandra, Principal Secretary Agriculture Parthasarathy, Ramakrishna Rao Secretary Finance, Subba Rao, Joint Secretary Ministry of Finance , Government of India, Satyanarayana CGM NABARD and G J Raju, GM, RBI, spoke on the occasion.