Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Wednesday expressed his displeasure at banks not pushing through fresh crop loans to farmers, when he met the Reserve Bank of India Governor, Raghuram Rajan. Mr. Rajan called on Mr. Rao at the Secretariat here with a team of senior officers of RBI.
Responding to Mr. Rao’s observation, Mr. Rajan promised to look into the matter and sort it out at the earliest. He said a window of the Central bank would be set up for rural infrastructure to fund restoration of irrigation tanks. The Chief Secretary, Rajiv Sharma, who was present at the meeting, brought to the notice of Mr. Rajan that an expenditure of Rs. 25,000 crore was estimated for restoration of the tanks.
An official release said he had requested Mr. Rajan to explore the possibility of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) refinancing the programme.
The Chief Minister told the RBI Governor that improvement of green cover in Telangana should also be financed by banks. He said Telangana would be power surplus in three years. A lot of entrepreneurs are keen to establish industries in Hyderabad as it is one of the top industrial destinations, he added.
Mr. Rao also made a request for funds to develop industrial estates in the State. The government will unveil the best industrial policy with a chasing cell in the Chief Minister’s Office. It had earmarked two to three lakh acres of land to create infrastructure for the industry.
Mr. Rajan promised that the RBI would consider the request and asked the government to feel free to approach it for any assistance.
He also said the RBI was trying to expand its scope to start a receivable finances system to support micro, small and medium enterprises. He said the MSEs needed special attention and, therefore, the RBI was going to licence small banks to lend assistance to MSMEs.
Earlier, bureaucrats who were present, said the RBI must have a specific look at the MSME sector on par with the agricultural sector.
Principal Secretary to Chief Minister S. Narsing Rao, Principal Finance Secretary V. Nagi Reddy and Special Chief Secretary of Industries K. Pradeep Chandra were present.
