 "Odisha selects 15 banks for handling govt business")
The banks that made the grade are 11 public sector banks, two regional rural banks (RRBs), one private sector bank and the Odisha State Cooperative Bank (OSCB).
For selection of banks, the state government in consultations with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) had finalised 15 parameters to appraise the performance of the banks. Performance of the banks in financial inclusion, especially sanctioning of loans to agriculture, MSME (micro, small & medium enterprises) and SHGs (self-help groups) or JLGs (joint liability groups) and opening of new bank branches in unbanked GPs (gram panchayats) were delineated as the key criteria.
For empanelment, the minimum eligibility score was 60 out of 100. A bonus of five marks were given to banks managing RSETI (Rural Self Employment Training Institutes) and RRBs. SBI showed the best performance scoring 80 out of I00, followed by Indian Overseas Bank (79) and Utkal Grameen Bank (73).
SBI and IOB got AA+ rating, while five other banks- UGB, UCO Bank, OSCB, Bank of Baroda, and Union Bank of India got AA rating scoring 70 and above. Odisha Gramya Bank, Bank of India and Indian Bank got A+ rating, while another five banks, United Bank of India, HDFC, Canara Bank, Allahabad Bank and Andhra bank got A rating.
HDFC Bank is the only private sector bank that met the government's eligibility criteria.
Tapan Kumar Pradhan, additional secretary, finance (Odisha) said: "In the coming years, banks showing better performance in the field of agriculture and priority sector lending as well as those providing banking services in un-banked areas will be given priority while selecting banks to handle SPSU and SLAS deposits. Submission of wrong data and failure to submit required information to the state government can result in the removal of a bank from the panel at any time."
Regardless of empanelment, if a bank opens the first bank branch in an un-banked gram panchayat, the entire government funds of that panchayat shall be parked in that bank branch.
