: Chief Minister V Narayanasamy today requested banks to ensure that loans are available liberally to all-women Self Help Groups for economic empowerment of beneficiaries and also for promotion of their livelihood economic activities.
Releasing the Rs 2,196.44 crore annual credit plan for 2016-17 fiscal prepared by the banks at the State level Bankers Committee (SLBC) meeting here, he said banks should also speed up sanctioning of education loans, avoiding multiple visits by the students to get the loan.
They should adopt a sympathetic approach to farmers, he said, adding that tourism and infrastructure sectors are other areas where banks' participation was crucial.
"These two sectors will gain momentum in the near future and hence the development of the sectors is very important."
Chief Secretary Manoj Parida received the first copy of the annual credit plan.
A release from SLBC said that the plan outlay now proposed was 12.21 per cent higher than the previous year.
Chairman and Executive Director of Indian Bank (the lead bank here) R Subramania Kumar who also spoke, said the annual credit plan targets of 2015-16 had been surpassed by banks in the UT and 102 per cent achievement was scored by them.
The credit plan envisages disbursement of Rs 956 crore under agricultural loans, marking a share of 44 per cent of the annual credit plan.
To achieve sustainable agrarian income for farmers, an 'investment credit target of Rs 286 crore had been fixed for banks' which worked out to 30 per cent of the agricultural lending targets.
Crop loan would involvement disbursement of Rs 670 crore during the current fiscal. Non farm sector would involvement disbursement of Rs 450 crore while the service sector has been earmarked Rs 790 crore.
The release said necessary allocation had been made to support beneficiaries of government sponsored programmes.
