Senior officials say banks are indifferent towards funding development projects.
For another time in a row, state government on Monday came down heavily on bankers for their being indolently indifferent towards funding developmental activities in the state. A slew of officers had an heated exchange with bankers to extent that a senior government official levelled charges, “Bankers just do paper work in the state”.
Not only RBI, data available with Business Standard also reveal bankers are forming in the state in terms of farm loans, credit deposit ration, rural housing loans, farm loans and above all education loans. The credit deposit ratio, the officials complained, was very low even less than 40 per cent mainly in tribal-dominated area where bankers have no scarcity of government business.
While holding a discussion with bankers in state-level bankers committee meet, state chief secretary, Avani Vaish warned the bankers, “We will take up the matter with RBI, if bankers do not sanction education loans and developmental activities.”
On the other hand, bankers shifted blame to the students and the government by saying that the given targets are exaggerated and hard to achieve. “How can we fund 60,000 seats when state has only 30,000 seats in the professional colleges?” a banker asked.
Earlier also KC Chakraborty, deputy governor of RBI had pulled up the state bankers for their lethargy in funding students for higher education and low credit deposit ratio and even farm loans.
A senior official, Sanjay Shukla exposed a case to which many bankers were unaware and put a question mark how bankers are working in the state,
“We have a Central government scheme to provide quality housing to urban poor. The Central and state government would extend 70 per cent of finance, construction work is in progress but bankers just simply turn down beneficiaries even for a loan of Rs 1-1.5 lakh despite the properties which the beneficiaries will own, will have at least Rs 10 lakh market value. All housing projects, under the scheme, are in posh areas. This reflects how bankers are working in the state.”
The bankers committee is unaware of the scheme.
Another official Ashok Shah, director institutional finance alleged,
“Bankers just brushed away demands for loans and do paper work only.” Bankers had a rather poor reply. They either want a commission in financial inclusion from government or want properly-trained business correspondents for rural accounts operations. But, hardly have any answer why they have funded zero amount to students or to poor in urban and rural areas for housing activities.
“There is a problem in communication and we will have to have a systematic approach to solve these issues,” said MV Tanksale, chairman of the Central Bank of India who is also the head of state level bankers committee, “It will take 4-5 years for us to reach all rural areas in terms of financial inclusion.”
According to data available with the Business Standard, there are as many as 100,000 seats in professional colleges all over the state but bankers have a very lengthy documentation process. They also want heavy collateral.
“I have felt it in three-four cases in which I am the guarantor and I have perception that bankers do not work, they have sanctioned loans to students residing outside the state and studying in colleges outside the state,” Shukla added.
The data available with the Business Standard indicates that banks like Punjab National Bank, Indian Bank, IDBI Bank, Dena Bank, Axis Bank and Corporation Bank, Axis Bank and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur have not covered any villages under banking service in villages of 2000 population. In case of rural housing bankers, these have funded 6,033 cases against more than 2 lakh potential and 40,000 forwarded by state government. The Nabard has also revealed that per hectare funding by bankers is very poor and only 40 per cent orRs 8,000-9,000 per hectare against the national average of Rs 22,000 per hectare.
The credit-deposit ratio in tribal district of Sidhi, Umaria, Shahdol, Rewa, Singrauli Mandla and Annuppur is not above 35 per cent since 2008.
