VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday thanked bankers for their cooperation in restricting the GDP decline to just 2.58 per cent compared to 7.25 per cent at the national level during the Covid pandemic, in the 2020-21 financial year. Addressing the 216th State-Level Bankers Committee meeting, he said term loans issued were Rs 3,237 crore less when compared to the corresponding period last year and credit to agriculture sector also declined by 1.32 per cent.
However, 10.49 per cent more crop loans were issued, which the Chief Minister termed a positive development. On the occasion, he called upon the bankers to focus on tenant farmers, who have been issued Crop Cultivator Rights Cards, and issue loans to them liberally. He also urged them to extend loans liberally to women self help groups.
According to him, 4,91,330 tenant farmers were issued CCR cards. The government confirms through the document that they are tenant farmers and verifies the crops they are cultivating through e-cropping.
House sites were distributed to 31 lakh women and the construction has already started for 10 lakh houses, Jagan said and added that the target is set to complete 15 lakh houses in the first phase.
He said the beneficiaries of houses are women and members of self-help groups and urged bankers to provide Rs 35,000 loan to each for construction of houses at the rate 3 per cent interest rate and assured that the remaining interest will be borne by the government.
The Chief Minister appreciated the bankers' committee for appointing 6,538 correspondents in the RBKs. He said that each RBK should have a banking correspondent. SLBC Convenor V Bramhananda Reddy said banking correspondents were deployed in 6,538 RBKs out of 10,778 RBKs and steps are being taken to post them in all RBKs. He said MPs of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have expressed interest in the way women run retail shops in alliance with major companies.
NABARD Chief General Manager Sudhir Kumar Jannawar said complete digitalisation is over in Kadapa and it will be launched in Guntur and Srikakulam districts. UBI ED Dinesh Kumar Garg said the programmes being implemented by AP have helped the economy survive during the Covid.