The District Annual Credit Plan (ACP) for 2013-14 has been pegged at Rs 10,753.92 crore which is 25.77 per cent higher than the current year (2012-13)’s Rs 8,550.54 crore.
This is the first time that the ACP has crossed Rs 10,000 crore largely due to the 98 per cent achievement in 2012-13.
A sum of Rs 6,383.01 crore (Rs 5,191.61 crore for Short Term Production Credit (STPC) and Rs 1,191.40 crore for term loans) has been allocated for agriculture sector compared to Rs 4,776 crore (Rs 3,660.46 crore for STPC and Rs 1,115.74 crore for term loans) in the year 2012-13.
Allocation for priority sector advances went up from Rs 7,273.40 crore in 2012-13 to Rs 9,199.41 crore, a 26.48 per cent increase. The non-priority sector was allotted Rs 1,554.51 crore, non-farm sector and small-scale industries Rs 1,451.52 crore and other priority sector Rs 1,364.88 crore. While releasing the ACP in a special District Consultative Committee (DCC) meeting held here on Thursday, District Collector S. Suresh Kumar sought focus to be laid on giving Loan Eligibility Cards (LECs) and actually extending credit to beneficiaries thereof, the SC/ST Sub-Plan coming into effect from April 1 with a greater degree of accountability, Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Program (PMEGP) and the MSME (Micro, Small & Medium Industries) sector. Mr. Suresh Kumar observed that a sum of just about Rs 20 crore was given to 8,000 plus farmers possessing LECs whereas the targeted number of LECs stood at 75,000. So, priority has to be attached to giving the cards to all eligible tenant farmers and by getting their act together, the banks could easily lend up to Rs 250 crore under this category. Regarding the financial support required by MSME sector, the Collector said prospective entrepreneurs were being given training free of cost at the MSME Development Institute but the business plans of a good number of them are spurned by banks on various grounds. In such cases, resources expended by the Government on training are wasted and more importantly the upcoming entrepreneurs lose faith in the system. The banks and district officials concerned have to carefully plan and executive the SC/ST Sub-Plan activities hereafter as they bear statutory liability for inaction. Dereliction of duty will attract more than the routine departmental action, the Collector warned.
Joint Collector D. Muralidhar Reddy, DCC Convener & Andhra Bank DGM K. Venkateswarlu, NABARD AGM M. Nageswara Raoand others were present.
