Haryana has failed to match the growth rate of agriculture productivity to the growth rate of agriculture advances extended by the financial institutions in the state.
According to the information available with the State Level Bankers’ Committee Haryana, the total outstanding under agriculture advances increased from Rs 14,859 croreas on December 2008 to Rs 17,986 crore on December 2009, reflecting an increase of Rs 3,127 crore or 21 per cent over the previous year.
But the same has not been reflected in the growth rate of productivity.
The loss of agriculture produce by the farmers in Punjab and Haryana is to the tune of 40 per cent and this is a major factor for keeping the low productivity despite better technologies being used by the farmers, told a senior bank official.
According to Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Finance, Government of Haryana A M Sharon, a sum of over Rs 2,600 crore is distributed annually under social benefit schemes in the state through the banking network. He added banks needed to upgrade their distribution model to check the overlapping in the distribution of funds.
Chairman and Managing Director of Punjab National Bank K R Kamath said according to RBI guidelines, the sub-committee of District Consultation Committee had been constituted in all the districts of Punjab and such villages had been identified. There are 1,843 unbanked villages having population of 2,000 and more in the state. All these villages have been allocated amongst the banks on the basis of Service Area Approach. There is direct relation between percentage and population excluded from Formal Financial System and incidence of poverty.
The Centre is contemplating to come out with an index to access Financial Inclusion on a quarterly basis from June 2010 onwards to give more concrete shape to its drive to integrate the larger section of population with the Formal Financial system. Keeping importance of Financial Inclusion as a business opportunity, Kamath called upon the bankers to draw the road map for providing banking facilities, as envisaged by the high level committee. Kamath also suggested bankers to closely monitor the progress so that the task is accomplished as per prescribed schedule.
