Himachal govt asks banks to increase priority sector lending

Banks in Himachal Pradesh should address their declining credit-deposit ratios and increase priority sector lending, a senior official said today.
Presiding over a State level Bankers Committee meeting here, Himachal Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) Srikant Baldi said banks should come forward to advance loans to priority sectors.
He said that out of 8 lakh Kisan Credit Cards, only 2.4 lakh were active and bankers should motivate farmers to use and avail benefits of the cards by holding camps in rural areas.
He said that Rs 9,266 crore had been disbursed under KCC to farmers since inception of the scheme in the state.

He also asked banks to arrange Point of Sale (POS) terminals in government offices, hospitals and public utility services in order to reduce dependency on cash.
Informing that Rs 9,823 crore had been disbursed so far under annual credit plan for 2016-17 up to December, Baldi asked bankers to enlist reasons for rejection and pendency of advances in priority sector areas and social security schemes.

He also asked bankers to providetraining in financial literacy to Panchayati Raj functionaries.
Managing Director and CEO of UCO Bank R K Takkar expressed concern over growing non-performing assets of banks, which was putting lot of pressure on credit expansion.

Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India,Amarnath impressed upon the banks to focus on financial inclusion campaign at the grass-root level.