Kisan credit card, LDR, crop loans on prime agenda in SLBC meeting

Meeting to be held on Feb 28 in the presence of union minister of state for finance Dr Bhagwat Karad in city

VAIBHAV PARWAT

Aurangabad, Feb 25:

A meeting of State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) will be held on February 28 in Aurangabad to discuss the issues of shortage of bank branches in the region, slow distribution of crop loans during the rabi season and gap in the loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) of more than 40 per cent in four districts of Vidharbha. Apart from financial inclusions, the meeting will also discuss a new scheme for issuing Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) to farmers and pastoralists.

This will be for the first time that the meeting will be held in the presence of union Minister of State for Finance Dr Bhagwat Karad in Marathwada. An earlier meeting of the SLBC in Latur discussed the issue of increasing the number of bank branches. The SLBC has now announced on its website an agenda to discuss the KCC scheme for livestock farmers along with agricultural schemes. Not only crop loans, but the gap in LDR of more than 40 percent in four districts in Vidharbha including Bhandara, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli and Gondia, is a cause of concern for the committee.

Only 9,842 applications approved

Lead bank has suggested increasing KCC disbursement to boost fishing, Mudra, self help group and dairy business. The banks received a total of 22,990 applications for KCC, but only 9,842 applications were approved till February 15. The government has also reduced the interest rate on the KCC from seven percent to two percent.

No contribution of commercial banks in crop loans

In a survey, the committee observed that the commercial banks are not showing much interest in disbursement of crop loans. During the Rabi season, commercial banks in Aurangabad, Beed, Buldhana, Jalgaon, Hingoli, Jalna, nandurbar, Latur, Osmanabad, Palghar, Parbhani, Ratnagiri, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Thane and Wardha districts neglected to disburse crop loans. In Beed, Buldhana district, the proportion is almost zero. Officials of the Nagpur division of the Reserve Bank have observed that the banks are neglecting to disburse loans in Marathwada. Even the farmers who were eligible for the Mahatma Phule Karj Mukti Yojana were not given loans.