Union Finance Minister urges RRBs to increase credit disbursement under various Government of India flagship
Sitharaman stresses scaling up agriculture credit disbursement with a special focus on allied agriculture activities like dairy, animal husbandry, fisheries
KARIMNAGAR, NOVEMBER 09, 2024: Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman chairs a meeting to review the performance of Regional Rural Banks of the Southern region including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, UT of Pondicherry in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary; Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS) M. Nagaraju; ED, RBI; Chairpersons of RRBs and sponsor banks; Additional Secretary, DFS, representatives of NABARD and SIDBI and other senior officers of participating states and UT were also present during the meeting.
The meeting, with 10 RRBs present, focused on business performance, upgrading digital technology services, and fostering business growth in activities allied to agriculture and micro and small industries. Given the crucial role of RRBs in supporting the rural economy, the Union Finance Minister urged RRBs to increase credit disbursement under various Government of India flagship schemes such as MUDRA, PM Vishwakarma, etc, with the active support of their sponsor banks.
Sitharaman directed RRBs to increase their share in ground level agriculture credit disbursement with special focus on allied agriculture activities like dairy, animal husbandry, fisheries etc, and to take necessary steps to realise the full potential of allied agriculture activities in the region. RRBs and sponsor banks were specially directed to work with respective state government departments to increase credit disbursement to the fisheries sector in Kerala and the dairying sector in Telangana.
The Union Finance Minister acknowledged RRBs for the demonstrable improvement in their financial performance and technology upgradation ever since the regular review was initiated in 2022. Consolidated CRAR of 17.6% and Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPA) of 3.94% in FY 2024 are at healthy levels. RRBs in the Southern Region have posted a consolidated profit of Rs 3,816 crore during FY 2024 which is more than 50% of the net consolidated profit of all RRBs combined.
During the review, the importance of enhancing the Current Account Savings Account (CASA) deposits was underlined, reinforcing the need for RRBs in southern region to mobilise CASA deposits to further accelerate the pace of sustainable credit growth.
Sitharaman also noted the significant role played by RRBs in financial inclusion in Southern region and urged them to continue their efforts towards saturation under Financial Inclusion (FI) schemes of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Atal Pension Yojana (APY), etc. by achieving respective targets. The Finance Minister directed sponsor banks to rework the targets of FI schemes along with RRBs and further asked banks to launch a special drive to operationalise inoperative accounts under PMJDY.
Union Finance Minister appreciated that the 10 RRBs have completed various technology upgradation of customer-centric digital services such as Micro-ATMs, call centres, net banking, Video KYC, RTGS, IMPS, etc. She urged RRBs to promote these services amongst their customers to increase their usage with help of respective sponsor banks.
In the virtual conference, SBI Hyderabad Circle Network-2 General Manager Prakash Chandra Barur, SBI Divisional Manager Laxminarayana, SBI general managers Ghan Shyam Salonki, Prashanth Kumar, Bhuvaneshwari, Thota Vidyasagar, Laxminarayana, Karimnagar RO S Venkatesh, LDM Anjaneyulu, Karimnagar rice millers association president Boinpalli Narasimha Rao, Gold Ornaments Manufacturing Industries Association president K Venkataramana and others were also present.
