Close branches unfriendly to tenant farmers, West Godavari collector urges RBI
KAKINADA: The West Godavari district collector Karthikeya Misra fumed at banks, especially private banks, who have not extended any financial support to tenant farmers and the agriculture sector.
He aired his opinions at a district consultative committee meeting he had with bankers at Eluru on Friday. He expressed discontent at the poor performance of private banks when it came to lending to those into the agriculture sector.
He wanted the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to shut down branches that shy away from extending loans to tenant farmers. He said that the district targetted to give Rs 880 crore loans to tenant farmers, of which bankers could provide Rs 190.17 crore to 41,385 individuals. He appealed to the bankers to complete their targetted loans within 10 days.
Misra said that if banks release Rs 13,640 crore to the agriculture sector, it could give only Rs 8,222.64 crore. He said that Rs 11,129.56 crore worth loans have been given to the priority sector and Rs 6,529 crore for short term loans. He also said that some banks have not given passbooks to self-help groups (SHGs).
RBI assistant general manager Sarat Chandra instructed the all bank coordinators to attend district-level bankers meeting and complete appointment of banking correspondents.
Joint collectors Himanshu Sukla, Dr B.R.Ambedkar, Suraj Ganore, DCC convener and Union Bank of India regional head I. Satyanarayana Murthy, NABARD DDM Anil Kanth, lead bank district manager S.S.A. Venkateswara Rao and others were present.
