Shashi Tharoor, MP, on Thursday urged banks in the district to reschedule loans where repayment has been affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Inaugurating an online meeting of the district consultative committee for banking development led by lead bank Indian Overseas Bank, Mr. Tharoor said the people were in dire straits financially on account of the pandemic. Banks should avoid delays in issuing loans to self-help groups. Private banks also should increase loan disbursal, he said.
District credit plan
Mr. Tharoor released the district credit plan for 2020-21 which envisages a credit outlay of ₹10,606 crore in the priority sectors. Of this, ₹4,706 crore is for agriculture, ₹2,180 crore for small industries and ₹3,720 crore for other priority sectors. Total bank deposits in the district, as on March 2020, stood at ₹1,02,021 crore and total advances, ₹66,445 crore.
The credit-deposit ratio for the district stands at 65%.
Priority sector loans
During 2019-20, banks in the district disbursed ₹9,067 crore as priority sector loans. Under the emergency credit line loan scheme of the centre, banks have disbursed loans to the tune of ₹331 crore. A total of ₹162 crore has been issued to Kudumbashree units.
District Collector Navjot Khosa presided. V.V. Visakh, Assistant General Manager, Reserve Bank; and G.S. Anish Kumar, District Development Officer, NABARD; reviewed the banking activities in the district. Lead District Manager Sreenivasa Pai G., regional heads of various banks, and government officials attended the online meeting.