 "Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman")
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday urged regional rural banks (RRBs) to bolster their current and savings account (Casa) ratio and persist with their focus on key central government schemes, such as PM SVANidhi, Atal Pension Yojana, PM Jan Dhan Yojana, PM Mudra Yojana, among others. Chairing a review meeting in Chennai with chairpersons and senior officials of RRBs from the southern region, Sitharaman highlighted the importance of timely adoption of technology, loan management systems, and core banking systems within the RRBs.
Joining the meeting were the Secretary of the Department of Financial Services, senior RBI officials, and representatives from the finance departments of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Puducherry, and Karnataka.
Sitharaman advised RRBs to capitalize on the account aggregator framework, particularly for extending credit to the allied agricultural sector, such as fisheries and animal husbandry, as well as providing loans to street vendors under the PM SVANidhi scheme.
The meeting involved discussions around the financial performance of RRBs. Sitharaman said, “Sponsor Banks should align RRBs with Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) clusters, improve their presence within these clusters, and create innovative products for MSMEs to better cater to their needs.”
The Finance Minister pointed out that the credit-deposit ratio, gross non-performing assets (GNPAs), and provision coverage ratio (PCR) of southern region RRBs outperformed the national average.
