BANGALORE: Expressing concern that the inflow of credit into agriculture as well as priority sector from the banking institutions is declining, Chief Secretary to the State government S V Ranganath exhorted the bankers to provide greater support to sustain the growth.
He was addressing the the State-level Bankers Committee meeting in which senior officials of the banking institutions, including RBI, NABARD, and Lead Bank managers took part on Monday.
Informing that the agriculture growth in the State has started seeing upward trend in the last couple of years, he said it had registered about 5 to 5.5 per cent increase and this needs to be taken to 6 per cent per annum to ensure food security.
He said, compared to last year, the lending to priority sector from the banks in the State came down to 18.55 per cent from 19.6 percent.
He said the lending to women came down to 7.6 per cent from 8.69 per cent and the lending to the SC and ST communities came down from 5 per cent to 3.4 per cent.
“There is a need to put a focused efforts to correct the balance,” the Chief Secretary said. He asked the banks to reach out to rural areas and speed up electronic transfer of money directly to the bank accounts of beneficiaries of social security schemes and the National Rural Employment Guarantee programme.
He also expressed his displeasure for the tardy progress in the distribution of Kissan Credit Cards and said that only 7.05 lakh cards have been issued against the target of over 15 lakh KCCs during the year.