Banks having operation in Odisha are giving a short shrift when it comes to disbursing credit in the state.
The total deposits in the state have grown by 39 per cent between 2011 and 2013 compared to 28 per cent in the country. However, the credit disbursement is up by only 28 per cent during the same period compared to 30 per cent at the national level.
“There is huge potential for enhancing the credit disbursement to viable projects”, said Chief Secretary, GC Pati at the Odisha Economic and Banking Conclave organized by Bankers’ Club in Bhubaneswar association with local publication of ‘Political and Business Daily’.
Stating that the state faces huge disadvantage in terms of infrastructure bottlenecks, he urged the banks to support new infrastructure projects launched by the state government.
“They should particularly finance infrastructure projects in agriculture sector”, he added.
In Odisha, the Credit-Deposit (CD) ratio stood at about 43 per cent compared to 77 per cent at the national level. In the banking parameters, Odisha accounts for 3.3 per cent of the total number of bank branches of the commercial banks as on December 2013. Odisha’s share in all India bank deposit stood at 2.2 per cent by the same time while the bank credit share was low at 1.2 per cent.
Speaking on the occasion Deputy Governor of Reserve bank of India (RBI), HR Khan said, the slowing down of economic growth of Odisha is more than the slowdown witnessed in the country.
“The real per capita income in Odisha had grown by 2.5 per cent on an average in the last five years compared to national average of 4.7 per cent”, he added.
Stating that Odisha accounts for 11 per cent of water resources, the top RBI official said, the state has enormous potential in services, agriculture and tourism sectors.
The level of industrialization is also low in the state. In 2013-14 industries including mining, quarrying, manufacturing, gas, water supply, gas and electricity accounted for 24 per cent of state GSDP larger than the national average of 18 per cent. Share of agriculture and allied activities to GSDP at 19.6 per cent is more than national average of 18 per cent and the services sector contribution is 56 per cent compared to 64- 65 per cent at the national level.
The mining and quarrying with a contribution of nine per cent to GSDP accounted for a major chunk of industry’s share in this most important economic parameter. In contrast, mining and quarrying accounted for 2.1 per cent of the country’s GDP. “This concentration risk can create a problem and there has been sharp decline in the mining sector impacting the industries”, said the RBI deputy governor.
The annual survey of industries revealed that Odisha accounted for 1.4 per cent of the total operating factories.
