BHUBANESWAR: Even as the State government has been stressing increasing credit linkage to self-help groups (SHGs) for improving the socio-economic condition of women, delay by commercial banks in disbursement at the ground level has marred the purpose of the initiative.
Sources said a target was set to disburse Rs 8,750 crore loan to 3.5 lakh SHGs in the State in 2022-23. The banks have achieved 22 per cent and 23 per cent of the annual physical and financial target respectively. While around Rs 2,061.95 crore has been disbursed to 78,756 SHGs till July, 1,12,226 loan applications are pending at various bank branches.
The highest 14,702 loan applications are pending in Ganjam district, followed by 14,244 in Puri, 7,502 in Jajpur, 7,197 in Nayagarh, 6,345 in Jagatsinghpur, 6,070 in Balangir, 5,890 in Dhenkanal, 5,515 in Kalahandi and 5,446 in Angul. Though the government had advised the banks to increase the size of loans per SHG to Rs 4 lakh, barring five districts, the average loan size is below Rs 3 lakh in the rest 25.
Not only disbursement, but cumulative recovery was also below target as only Rs 75 crore has been recovered from 315 SHGs. The recovery was zero in 20 districts including Khurda, Puri, Angul, Nayagarh, Dhenkanal, Ganjam, Sambalpur and Sundargarh. As many as 58,879 loan applications were pending at the bank level for sanction and disbursement till the end of February last financial year. Expressing concern over delay in loan disbursement, SHGs claimed there was no point in disbursing loans at the last minute to achieve the target as it would hardly solve the purpose.
Meanwhile, the Mission Shakti department has asked Collectors to intervene and instruct bank branches to expedite the process for on-time sanction and disbursement of loan applications pending at their level. Besides on-time disbursement, stress has been laid on timely repayment to enable SHGs to avail of interest subvention benefits.
“SHG bank credit linkage is critical for ensuring timely credit flow to women groups across the State. Districts have been asked to deploy field functionaries to achieve the annual target,” said an official of the department.