Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Kota Srinivas Poojary chairing the District Bankers’ Committee review meeting at Rajatadri, district headquarters in Manipal, Udupi on Saturday.
| Photo Credit: UMESH S. SHETTIGAR
Udupi-Chikkamagaluru MP Kota Srinivas Poojary on Saturday, directed branch managers of Nationalised Banks to avail assistance from local staff in disposing off various applications from beneficiaries if they do not understand Kannada.
Chairing the District Bankers’ Committee review meeting at Manipal-Udupi, Mr. Poojary said branch managers at no point of time should refuse to entertain applications for financial assistance on the grounds of language. Many instances of bank managers refusing to entertain applications because of language barriers were reported, he said, cautioning managers against the practice.
The MP reiterated that banks should consider loan applications by approved beneficiaries under the PM-Vishwakarma scheme on priority.
Zilla Panchayat CEO Prateek Bayal said banks in the district conducted total business of ₹60,519 crore during the second quarter of 2024-25 FY, which was ₹5,734 crore more compared to Q2 in 2023-24, registering a growth of 10.47%. Banks have extended ₹1,233 crore loan to weaker sections under special programmes while ₹82.9 crore loan was given as higher education loan and ₹136 crore was given for sustainable development of housing sector.
Mr. Bayal further said as many as 261 applications were received under the Pradhan Mantri Employment Generation Scheme intended to support local entrepreneurs and generate more jobs. Of these, 131 were disposed off by disubrsing ₹28.34 crore loans. He directed banks to dispose off the balance applications on priority and disburse subsidy.
Lead Bank Canara Bank’s Regional Manager K. Shreejith said credit disbursal in the district has improved to ₹19,535 crore with a net increase of ₹1,787 crore showing 10.06% growth over the last year. He said that bank deposits have grown to ₹40,984 crore with a net increase of ₹3,947 crore registering the 10.66% growth. There was a marginal decrease in the credit-deposit ratio, from 47.92% to 47.66% over the previous year.
Mr. Shreejith said banks have disbursed ₹1,979 crore loans to the MSME sector, recording 57.76% achievement against the annual target. A sum of ₹1,506 crore loans were disbursed in the farm sector registering 52.53% achievement. He said all banks should completely achieve targets set by the Reserve Bank of India for all priority sector lending.
Published – December 21, 2024 09:10 pm IST