BHUBANESWAR: The State Government selected a panel of 14 banks for handling business and deposits of State Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and State level Autonomous Societies (SLAS).
These include two rural banks, eight public sector banks, three private banks and Odisha State Cooperative bank. For the empanelment, Finance Department had suggested 14 parameters to measure bank’s performance in the field of financial inclusion, especially sanctioning loan to agriculture sector, MSMEs and SHGs as well as opening of new bank branches in unbanked areas.
Utkal Gramya Bank secured the top position by scoring 75 out of 100 in these parameters, followed by Bank of India with 70 marks and Odisha Gramya Bank with 67 marks.
Other than these three banks, Central Bank of India and ICICI Bank scored 60 marks, a Finance Department release said.
Minimum eligibility score for empanelment was fixed at 50 which was scored by SBI, IDBI, Axis Bank, Canara Bank, HDFC, PNB, Allahabad Bank and UCo Bank.
Because of the stricter eligibility criteria with focus on financial inclusion, 10 banks, which found place in the previous empanelment, have been found ineligible this time. Further, irrespective of whether it is empanelled or not, if any bank opens the first bank branch in an unbanked Gram Panchayat (GP), the entire Government fund of that GP will be parked in that branch.
Additional Secretary, Finance Department Tapan Kumar Pradhan said banks showing better performance in field of agriculture and priority sector loans as well as providing banking services in unbanked areas will be given priority.