Uti Bank To Fund Contract Farming

UTI Bank is looking at contract farming to double its portfolio of direct agriculture lending from Rs 300 crore to Rs 600 crore by end of fiscal 2004.

Farm mechanisation loans and hi-tech agriculture projects are the other projects which the bank is looking at.

As a part of the priority sector lending target of 40 per cent, banks have to lend 18 per cent of their total credit portfolio to agriculture.

Of this, 13.5 per cent is through direct agriculture credit. All private banks are facing problems in achieving this target of direct lending.