HYDERABAD: Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy on Tuesday urged banks to be more generous in disbursing loans to farmers and to encourage the establishment of agri-based and food processing industries, oil palm cultivation and dairying, by giving loans.
Addressing the State-level bankers’ committee (SLBC) meeting in Hotel Marigold here, he expressed concern over the banks disbursing only 62 per cent of the loans to the agriculture sector against the target for the financial year 2022-23.
Observing that the groundnut produced in the Telangana region is well-known for its high quality, he urged banks to encourage groundnut cultivation and setting up of industries making groundnut-based products like peanut butter, which he said, had high demand in the US, Australia and European countries.
He said that banks were only considering urban properties while extending loans when in reality even the cost of rural properties has increased across the State. He also urged the banks to increase the limit set for extending overseas educational loans from Rs 7.5 lakh.
Finance Special Secretary Ramakrishna Rao, Agriculture Commissioner M Raghunandan Rao, Finance Secretary Ronald Rose, Chief General Manager of SBI, Hyderabad Circle, Amit Jhingran, NABARD GM Y Haragopal and others attended the meeting.