Deputy Commissioner Vipul Bansal said that the Annual Credit Plans of banks should not become a mere ritual and bankers should make honest efforts to achieve financial targets and also help the farming sector get all the benefits due to them.
Launching the Distrct Annual Credit Plan 2015-16 here on Monday, Mr Bansal said that banks, which deduct the premiums for crop insurance in crop loans, seldom made any effort to ensure that the farmers got back their insurance amount in the event of the failure of the crop.
The banks’ responsibility should not end at the point of deducting the premium on behalf of insurance companies and they should help farmers get back the benefits of the insurance from said companies.
“This year three taluks in the district have been declared drought-hit and the farmers have suffered crop loss and the banks should help them get back the insurance amount from insurance companies.”
Mr. Bansal said that as per the available records 70 per cent of the crop loan accounts were irregular in repaying the loans and banks can improve the repayment of crop loans by helping the farmers get back their insurance amount.
State Bank of India, which is the lead bank of Kalaburagi, had prepared an ambitious credit plan of Rs. 5,111 crore which included Rs. 4,275 crore priority sector lending and Rs. 836 crore non-priority sector lending.
Under the priority sector, a major chunk of 64 per cent, amounting to Rs. 2,727 crore, had been fixed for commercial banks, followed by Rs. 1,249 crore targets set for Pragati Krishna Grameen Bank which constitutes 29 per cent.
The remaining amount has been fixed for cooperative banks.
