A. Sampath, MP, said here on Tuesday that banks in the district must ensure better services to people in rural and semi-urban areas by opening more branches in these areas.
Inaugurating the second District Level Review Committee (DLRC) meeting on banking, Mr. Sampath said that even though Kerala had achieved the status of ‘total banking State,' there were many regions in the State, including in the capital district, where there was still a dearth of banking facilities.
“The need of banking facilities is increasing even in rural areas. Banks should be in a position to meet this demand,'' he said.
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He added that banks should device schemes to encourage savings habit among students and to increase credit flow to women.
Mr. Sampath released the Potential Linked Credit Plan (PLP) for the district for the year 2012-13. The PLP projection for the priority sector for the next fiscal is Rs.6,478.96 crore. RBI assistant general manager P. Thomas presided.
Lead Bank convenor Indira Padmini presented the banking performance report for the quarter at the meeting.
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District's figures
Financial institutions in the district disbursed Rs.1,006 crore under three major categories of priority sector in the first quarter of the financial year recording an achievement of 19 per cent against a total target of Rs.5,393 crores. Banks disbursed Rs.611 crore to the agriculture sector in the first quarter of 2011-12 against a total target of Rs.2,176 crore. An amount of Rs.364 crore was disbursed under the service sector against a target of Rs.2,865 crore. In the non-farm sector the disbursement was Rs.31 crore.
Total bank deposits in the district stood at Rs.32,327 crore and advances at Rs.26,704 crore. The credit deposit (C/D) ratio for the district is 83 per cent.
Around Rs.917 crore was disbursed as education loan till June 30.
The bank loan outstanding for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in the priority sector is Rs.2,224 crore.