Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday appreciated the efforts of banks and districts for making coordinated efforts to improve lending to priority sectors.
"The banks and districts have done quite a commendable job in improving their performance in credit flow to Agriculture, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Self Help Group (SHG) sector. I congratulate all the bankers for achieving the financial target meant for the SHG sector well ahead of time," Patnaik said. Reviewing the performance over credit linkages with bankers, collectors and top officers of the state government through a virtual platform, the Chief Minister said that there has been considerable progress in credit disbursement to the priority sector during the last two months.
Since the last review meeting two months back, he said, that he had requested all to go the extra mile in these crisis times and ensure adequate and timely credit supply to help the most vulnerable sections of society and economy -farmers, women and MSMEs.
Patnaik further said that his government is always concerned to safeguard and protect the interest of the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. "The farmers, Mission Shakti groups and MSMEs are our lakhs of entrepreneurs who are in need of credit to run and expand their business. We need to support them in the true spirit," he added.
Highlighting the importance of Agriculture, MSME and Mission Shakti, he stated that to take forward the momentum created in the last few months, the budgetary provisions for these sectors have been substantially increased for the Financial Year 2021-22.
"We are also providing Interest Subvention under various schemes to reduce the interest burden on the people and to enhance credit linkage," he added.
The Chief Minister said that from the last meeting in December about Rs 1600 crores more has gone to Mission Shakti groups which is about Rs 500 Crores more than the annual target.
According to an official release, it was revealed in the meeting that the annual credit target for SHGs was Rs 3240 crores. But by January, the SHGs have already received credits over Rs 3745 crores.
Focusing on farmers, the Chief Minister said, "They are the backbone of our state. We should provide them with timely credit. We have been able to help the farmers with credit so far in most districts."
It was informed in the meeting that last year crop loan was Rs 20 thousand Crore which has been increased to Rs 20,606 Crore this year.
Coming to MSMEs, the CM said that they are the backbone of our economy and have a significant role in employment.
Expressing happiness that the overall credit flow to MSMEs during the last two months' was satisfactory, the Chief Minister stated that the MSME sector has received credits over Rs 26,000 crores which is expected to touch the target of Rs 20,457 crore by March.
( With inputs from ANI )
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