“Targets not met by banks”

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has expressed concern over the non-achievement of targets by banks and other Government agencies in the district in implementing several public welfare and credit schemes.

Presiding over the District Consultative Committee meeting here on Thursday, RBI Assistant General Manager S. Selvaraj said that with the financial year almost over, implementation of the schemes should be expedited.

He pointed out to the bankers and officials that only half of the stipulated 1 per cent target in loans under Differential Rate of Interest (DRI) had been achieved in Madurai district.

Under the Central housing scheme of Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), of the 1,076 applications received, only 343 had been sanctioned. This scheme involved loan amounts of only Rs. 20,000, he said. While advances to women beneficiaries were above the stipulated 5 per cent and stood at 5.85 per cent, advances to minorities were only 3.6 per cent, which was well below the mandatory 10 per cent.

Reviewing other financial indicators, he noted that deposits stood at Rs. 9,786 crore as on December 2009, registering a year-on-year growth of 26.43 per cent. Advances grew by 11.23 per cent, reaching Rs. 8,864 crore. While the credit-deposit ratio had decreased by 9 per cent and stood at 92 per cent, it was well above the stipulated 60 per cent for public sector banks, Mr. Selvaraj said.

Speaking earlier, R. Shankar Narayan, Assistant General Manager, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), said that performance under the Annual Credit Plan stood at Rs. 1,422 crore, exceeding the target for the third quarter.

However, the overall target for the current fiscal was Rs. 1,848 crore, on which only 77 per cent had been achieved. He expressed hope that banks would have expedited implementation in the last quarter.

KN. Subramanian, Lead District Manager, spoke about the road map formed to provide banking services to all villages with a population of over 2,000.

Of the 159 such villages identified in the district, 48 had been covered and the rest would be covered before the RBI-mandated deadline of March 2011. The progress of Madurai district in this regard had been appreciated by the RBI as it was ahead of many other districts in Tamil Nadu.