Education and agriculture term loans in Odisha have highest NPAs

BHUBANESWAR: Even as the Odisha Government shifted its focus to augmentation of the farm sector, the latest Economic Survey says education and agriculture term loan has the highest Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) among sectors.

According to a survey report, the NPA-level of public sector banks in the State is higher than private sector banks which is excess than prudent and alarming.

The overall gross NPA and overdue amounts are 10.6 per cent (pc) and 36.7 per cent respectively for the banks in the State. The NPA and overdue percentages are even higher with regard to Government-sponsored schemes.

The survey report says education loan and agriculture term loan have the highest NPAs among sectors. While education loan contributed nearly 18.36 per cent to overall NPA, agricultural term loan and short term crop loan shared 14.56 per cent and 12.4 per cent respectively.

Crop loans to the tune of Rs 15,869 crore were disbursed in 2015-16, Rs 15,534 crore in 2016-17 and Rs 16,529 crore in 2017-18. Around 30.6 lakh farmers have availed crop loan (both kharif and rabi) from Cooperatives in 2017-18, up from 23.5 lakh farmers in 2011-12.

Market share of Cooperative banks in short-term agricultural credit sector is 67 pc with commercial banks accounting for the smaller share of 33 pc. The per capita crop loan has increased from Rs 19,000 to Rs 35,768 between 2011-12 and 2017-18. “The NPA percentage ranging between 3 per cent to 19 per cent and overdue ranging between 22 per cent to 46 per cent for all major schemes are a matter of critical concern as it badly affects the productive recycling of funds,” the report summarised.

Odisha has 21 public sector banks, 15 private sector banks, two rural banks and one state cooperative bank with a total 5,108 branches. Public sector bank branches constitute 62 per cent of total branches.

The average population served by a bank branch in the State is 8,868. Bank branches distribution is skewed as 52 per cent of bank branches serve about 82 per cent of the total population living in rural areas while 48 per cent of bank branches serve only 18 per cent population. 

The number of ATMs per one lakh population in the State is 16.65 against the national average of 18.35. 
Even though 52 per cent of bank branches are located in rural areas, more ATMs are available in urban/semi-urban areas. As many as 4,401 ATMs are located in urban centres as compared to 2,292 in rural areas. The status of ATMs indicates that banks are yet to give due importance for installation of ATMs at rural branches, the report indicated.