The State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) has proposed a Rs 73,450-crore annual credit plan for the priority sector in Andhra Pradesh during 2011-12 as compared with Rs 72,878 crore achieved under priority sector lending by banks last year.
While the credit plan for FY12 suggests almost flat growth as against last year, this is 19 per cent higher compared with the original plan of Rs 61,685 crore envisaged last year.
The total credit plan, including the non-priority sector, is pegged at Rs 1,03,915 crore for the year as against Rs 82,351 crore last year.
Releasing the annual credit plan on Thursday, chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy complimented banks for surpassing the plan target by 18 per cent last year.
Though it was proposed to disburse Rs 43,077 crore for the agriculture sector during the current year, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) had communicated that Rs 48,000 crore has been allocated to the state by the Centre, according to Andhra Bank chairman & managing director R Ramachandran, who is chairman of SLBC.
The chief minister said the government would waive the interest on loans, both repaid and unpaid by farmers, in the 680 flood-affected mandals, putting a financial burden of about Rs 650 crore on the state exchequer.