Rs 1,356-crore loans for SSIs in AP

The small-scale industrial (SSIs) sector in Andhra Pradesh received Rs 1,356-crore loan support in the first- half of the current financial year under the credit plan 2003-04, registering an achievement of 46 per cent of the target.

The public sector banks in the state agreed to a total target of Rs 2,949-crore loan disbursement for the credit requirement of the SSI sector in the current fiscal. This was disclosed at the recently held State-Level Bankers Committee(SLBC) meeting.

With the latest lending, the total amount outstanding under SSI and rural artisans by September-end, 2003 was Rs 7,034 crore, which forms 12.21 per cent of the net bank credit.

Several schemes for small-scale industries have been introduced to enhance the flow of credit to SSI sector by the state and the central governments, such as NEF, CLCSS, TUF, KVIC, CGTSI and AP Sick SSI Revival Scheme.

The drugs and pharma, and ceiling fans were the other clusters which were identified by the bankers' committee. It advised all the banks to enhance the credit flow to these clusters.

The committee also advised the leading banks to open specialised SSI branches wherever they were not existing.