Banks in Dakshina Kannada will have ample scope to advance loans to the rubber sector in the new fiscal, according to Sujir Prabhakar, Deputy General Manager, Syndicate Bank, Regional Office, Mangalore.
Stating this at the release of the credit plan for Dakshina Kannada for 2010-11, he said that banks could lend for cultivating rubber as well as industries manufacturing wooden products, including furniture, using rubber wood.
Later, Mr. Prabhakar told The Hindu that the cost of cultivating rubber was lower compared with arecanut. In addition, prices of rubber were now remunerative and non-volatile. Hence, some farmers were already switching over to rubber cultivation.
Mr. Prabhakar said that he had learnt that furniture made of rubber wood was free from termite attacks.
The credit plan for Dakshina Kannada for 2010-11, released here on Tuesday, has an outlay of Rs. 3,581 crore, up by Rs. 574 crore (19 per cent), from 2009-10.
Syndicate Bank, which is the lead bank of Dakshina Kannada, has prepared the plan.Chief Executive Officer of Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat P. Shivashankar released the plan at a meeting.
Of the total outlay, Rs. 2,726 crore or 76 per cent has been earmarked for the priority sector, of which the agricultural sector gets Rs. 1,110 crore or 31 per cent of the total outlay. The credit plan has allocated Rs. 431 crore to the secondary sector, which includes small-scale industries and non-farm activities.
K.P. Udupa, Assistant General Manager, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, said the decline in the credit-deposit (CD) ratio, attributed to a “substantial increase” in deposits in the district, was a cause for concern. He hoped that the CD ratio would improve to 60 per cent during 2010-11.
An official from the Department of Textiles told the meeting that the South Canara District Central Cooperative (SCDCC) Bank was not providing loans to weavers at 3 per cent interest although the State Government had instructed banks to do so.
Replying to this, an official representing the bank said the matter was before the board for its consideration.
