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Minutes of Meetings
MINUTES
OF THE 93 RD MEETING OF STATE LEVEL BANKERS' COMMITTEE, RAJASTHAN
HELD AT JAIPUR ON 09TH JULY, 2007 The meeting commenced at 11.00 a.m. with Dr. Anil K. Khandelwal, Chairman and Managing Director in the chair and Dr. V. S. Vyas, Chairman of Institute of Development & Studies, Jaipur as Guest of Honour. Other participants included Shri.S.K. Bhattacharyya, Managing Director, SBBJ, Shri B.P.Vijayendra, Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India, Shri B. M. Sharma, Managing Director, The Bank of Rajasthan Ltd., Smt. Malovika Panwar, Principal Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri Ashish Bahuguna, Principal Secretary, Agriculture, Sh. Damodar Sharma, Director General, IGPRS, Sh. V Srinivas, Secretary, Planning and other senior functionaries of State government. Representatives of Banks/ financial institutions & other agencies were also present on this occasion. The list of members, who attended the meeting, is annexed. Shri Ajai Kumar, General Manager, Bank of Baroda and Convenor, State Level Bankers' Committee welcomed the participants and extended a hearty welcome to the Chairman of the meeting Dr. Anil K. Khandelwal, senior functionaries of banks, senior Secretaries to the State Government & other dignitaries and participants of the meeting. In his opening remarks, he pointed out that SLBC has made possible credit to the unreached and executed the poverty alleviation programmes successfully thereby enabling the State to command a respectable position in this regard at national level. Referring to the new initiatives taken by the Banking sector in Rajasthan, Shri. Ajai Kumar underlined operationalisation of RUDSETIs and process of financial inclusion being implemented in the State. He presented before the house the progress posted by Banking sector in Rajasthan, particularly in the context of Priority Sector. He also urged the State Government to amend The Public Demand Recovery Act. Shri B.P. Vijayendra, Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India pledged his support to Shri Ajai Kumar, Convenor, SLBC as well as placed on record the effective role of his predecessor. He informed the house that priority sector guidelines have been revised by Reserve Bank of India to include only those sectors that impact large sections of the population, weaker sections and sectors which are employment - intensive such as agriculture, tiny and small enterprises. The broad categories of priority sector would now include Agriculture (Direct and Indirect), Small Enterprises (Direct and Indirect), Retail Trade, Micro Credit, Education Loans and Housing Loans. Non achievement of priority sector targets and sub-targets will be taken into account while granting regulatory clearances / approvals for various purposes, he asserted. Referring to validation of 100 % Financial Inclusion, he further informed that RBI has decided to entrust the evaluation of 100 % financial inclusion in such Districts which have reported completion of the exercise. In respect of Rajsamand District, to facilitate the evaluation by external agency, certain information has been called for from SBBJ which is expected to reach them by July 21, 2007. The five Banks, proposing Financial Inclusion in their lead Districts, need to note the data requirements of the evaluating agency. He put forth the justification for inclusion of Sriganganagar, which is the only minority concentrated District in our State. Reiterating his suggestion put forth in earlier meeting & on constitution of sub group on government sponsored programme, he observed that non constitution of the sub committee of SLBC on government sponsored schemes is a serious shortcoming and suggested that the sub committee can be headed by a State Government official. Depending on the level of Government participation, Banking sector will nominate its members accordingly. He also suggested for identification of a single contact point in State Government for Banks to facilitate more effective co-ordination. Shri Vijayendra stated that Reserve Bank of India on 18th June 2007 has launched a multi-lingual site for Common Person, in 13 languages, encompassing instructions relating to customer service, lending rates of Banks, Banking Ombudsman Scheme, Right to Information Act and links to commercial Banks’ websites which inter alia contains a section on the role and functions of the Reserve Bank of India. The site can be accessed at ‘www.rbi.org.in/common person’ or from the quick link provided (for the common person) on the home page of the main RBI site ‘www.rbi.org.in’. Prof. V.S. Vyas, Chairman of Institute of Development Studies, Jaipur in his special address to the SLBC extensively dwelt upon the role of commercial Banks in poverty alleviation. Commenting upon the ability of Banking industry in coping up with the demand of Industry and services sector (virtually spearheading growth in the economy) as also of open economy, he expressed his concern that during nineties, Banks got diverted from their task of mandatory lending to some of the neglected sectors and were concerned mainly with narrow banking to ensure healthy balance sheet. However, he was convinced that this tendency is now corrected with the emphasis on inclusive banking. Dr. Vyas pointed out that Banks are now combining their financial intermediation role with the developmental role and it is now generally recognized that the poor are bankable, but scope exists for translation of these ideas at the ground level. While concluding he was happy to find a favourable environment in the country for Banks to play an important role in the development in general and poverty reduction in particular. He maintained that policy makers at the top and the heads of commercial banks are, in general, favourably disposed in this role. He opined if sincere and concerted steps are taken in the direction suggested above situation may improve to a considerable extent. Dr. Anil K. Khandelwal, Chairman and Managing Director, Bank of Baroda and Chair person of the meeting appreciated the presentation by Dr. Vyas. CMD, BOB submitted that the task force (sub committee of SLBC) on Government Sponsored Programmes has to look at this presentation more seriously. He wanted SLBC to organize seminars from time to time with the help of Government and forcefully advocated organizing of thematic SLBC. He favoured innovative thinking to organically link the SLBC to the larger agenda that the Government is seeking for. He said that in the State of Rajasthan, it’s indeed very creditable for Bankers that the job has been taken more seriously than elsewhere in India because the CD ratio is about 96 % and in most of the Government programmes, the record of performance is very good especially in Self Help Groups. He mentioned that there is a need of better representation from the State Government in SLBC. He also stated that there is a need to make smaller groups to institutionalize the process and find out the fundamental problems. Thereafter Shri Ajai Kumar, Convenor, SLBC took up the agenda items for discussions. Agenda No. 1 (i) Confirmation of Minutes of 92nd SLBC Meeting held on 21.03.2007. The house confirmed the minutes of 92nd SLBC Meeting (held on 21.03.2007, which were circulated to the members on 06th of April 2007) after some modifications as suggested by Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India : Page No.3 (Last Para) “…….the economic front, economy is getting over heated by all monetary as well as physical steps, taken by government and Reserve Bank of India” to be substituted by ”the RBI and the Government of India are taking steps to address overheating in the economy.” Agenda No. 2 – Performance under Key Business Parameters as of Sept. 2006. (Page No.9) “The house noted that performance of the Banks on Key Business Parameters as of December 2006 amply demonstrate that the Key Business Parameters are the basic indicators of the health of assets and liability portfolio which is prime concern of any commercial organisation like Banking industry for long. Rajasthan has been comparatively a less developed State from the point of view of banking outreach” to be deleted. Agenda No. 5 Financial Inclusion (Page No. 14, third Para) “………..and Principal Secretary (Rural Development) and Principal Secretary to Chief Minister have also visited Rajsamand and with their proactive support…...” to be substituted by : “the Collector, Rajsamand has taken up with the Principal Secretary, Rural Development who in turn has escalated to the Chief Minister and the Lead Bank in the District (SBBJ) has taken it up with the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister. He said that these people have been approached to have the district declared as 100 % financial included.” (ii) Status of Action Taken Report Convenor, SLBC informed the house about the status of following issues, which SLBC took up with concerned members / institutions and had invited reactions of the participants:
The house was informed that Punjab National Bank, being Convenor of Sub Committee on “Business and Service Sector” was entrusted the responsibility to suggest enabling measures for improving performance under Government Sponsored Programmes. Chairman and Managing Director, Bank of Baroda suggested that the major agenda of development should be headed by the State Government as well as Senior Bankers. Shri Vijayendra reiterated about the sub committee for the Government Sponsored Schemes. He desired that for the Government Sponsored Schemes, we should have somebody at a fairly senior level from government side to ensure that bottlenecks would be properly identified and suitable measures put in place to over come them. In this context, he made a reference to a sub group of Empowered Committee on SME Financing headed by Joint Director, Industries constituted for reconciling the differences in the figures furnished by State Government & Banks and the good results produced by it. Smt. Malovika Panwar brought to the notice of the house that Additional Chief Secretary, Development is sufficiently senior from Government to take up these developmental issues. Regional Director, RBI felt that Addl. Chief Secretary Development might not have enough spare time for such issues so there should be one another senior government representative to take up these issues regularly. He suggested that we could even designate one person from Bankers also as a focal point for government for any assistance.
It was informed that Grading format for SHG was fine tuned and finalized grading format was sent to Banks for adoption vide our letter No.RZ:SLBC:2006-07:149 dated 19.02.2007.
It was informed that the first meeting of the Coordination Committee was arranged by Industries Department on 12.06.2007 to review the progress of establishment of RUDSETIs, EDP Module, Implementation of 2 % interest subsidy, rent reimbursement of hired premises & land allotment etc.
Convenor, SLBC informed the house that the Committee headed by a Deputy General Manager, SBBJ to look into the related issues in consultation with Director, Agriculture, met on 24.04.2007. As per the suggestions received from the Committee, Agri Insurance Company should take up the issue with their higher authorities in regard to acceptance of advance premium.
It was informed that in the meeting convened at Reserve Bank of India, certain Banks expressed their desire to adopt few Lead District viz. Punjab National Bank – Dholpur District, OBC - Sriganganagar District, UCO Bank – Dausa District, Central Bank of India – Jhalawar District. Bank of Baroda itself has adopted Dungarpur District as centenary year project for integrated development with 100 % Financial Inclusion. Principal Secretary (Agriculture) requested Bankers to adopt more backward Districts for 100 % Financial Inclusion. RD, RBI reacted that selection of District was done by the concerned banks and most of the Districts are backward. Dungarpur District was selected by Bank of Baroda for not only 100 % Financial Inclusion but also for the Integrated Rural Development as a part of their centenary celebrations. By citing the example of the efforts of Rajasmand District Collector, he requested Government to give kind support and instruct their District Collectors to cooperate with the Bankers in their respective lead Districts for 100 % Financial Inclusion. He requested senior secretaries to be present at the launch of this project at every District to give required motivation.
Convenor. SLBC said that two rounds of the meeting between Bankers and Planning Department of State Government were arranged, however, the desired result is still awaited. He further said that Bankers have also proposed amendment in the Public Demand Recovery Act and in his opinion, performance under Recovery can be improved if physical target under recovery can be fixed for the authorities and this may be a part of appraisal of their annual performance. The overall recovery for priority sector is 70.54 %. Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India underlined the opinion of Additional Advocate General in which it was clearly mentioned that State Government has all the jurisdiction to bring an amendment in the concerning laws. The discussions were carried forward to Agenda No. 10. Key Business Parameters as of March -2007. The house noted that performance of Banks has facilitated agriculture, industries & other priority sector credit support during last 35 years. Commercial Banks, RRBs and Cooperatives sector are having a network of 2508, 1015 and 534 branches respectively in the State of Rajasthan as on March 2007 (Total Branches 4057). General Manager, Bank of Baroda said that Banks have done exceedingly well on the front of Social Banking where the CD ratio is placed at 96.94. However CD Ratio excluding cooperative Banks is 91.09 %. He informed that share of priority sector advances is comfortably placed at 56.65 % as against the target of 40 %, share of agriculture advances to total advances is 34.56 vis-à-vis 18 % as stipulated under social banking norms and advances to weaker section are 9.85 % slightly short of stipulated norms of 10 %. He observed that by and large, there has been sustained growth in credit to all sectors during the year 2006-07. Regional Director, RBI requested representative of Cooperative sector to enhance their weaker section advance and to report their data to SLBC correctly. Principal Secretary (Agriculture) pointed out that Mewar Aanchalik Gramin Bank have reported very low growth in CD ratio and priority sector parameters in comparison to other Banks. He requested RRBs to improve their CD ratio and performance under Government sponsored schemes as well. Managing Director, The Bank of Rajasthan Ltd. assured the house that his Bank and sponsored RRB will improve it CD ratio and performance under social Banking parameters in a phased manner with monthly monitoring. Doubling the Flow of Credit to Agriculture Convenor informed the house that Bank in the State of Rajasthan are committed to make available both production and investment credit support to farm sector and during the last three years performance of Banks have been impressive wherein the banks not only surpassed in the targets under farm credit package, but almost doubled the farm credit package in the first two years. However, the performance need to be further improved in term of extending fresh loans to farmers covered under relief measures, financing of agricultural term loans, expanding credit flow to agriclinic and agri business centres, financing for redemption of private debts etc. Further it has been observed that numbers of new farmers are not being reported correctly by Banks. Likewise Banks have issued KCC to a large number of farmers and actual loans have not been extended in case of cooperatives, owing to limitation of resources. Regional Director, RBI urged Government to look in to the cooperative sector for the credit dispensation under KCC by the Cooperatives and requested to make available sufficient resources for them, so that this issue can be addressed. He added that RBI has recommended the Credit Counseling and Financial Literacy for increasing viability of credit and as such SLBC has to identify one District in State on pilot basis. In this context, Dungarpur District was suggested for setting up of Credit counseling centres on pilot basis with 100 % Financial Inclusion which was agreed upon by the CMD, Bank of Baroda & he announced that on 20th July, 2007 (at 100th Foundation Day of the Bank) they would open their credit counseling centres at Bichhiwara, Sagwara, Dungarpur Branches in Dungarpur District. Responding to the parameters of relief measures including the issue of moratorium while undertaking successive rephasement/ reschedulement raised by Baroda Rajasthan Gramin Bank, Shri N.S.P. Rao General Manager, NABARD clarified that the Gramin Bank can take the issue to their Board to take the decision in the light of NABARD’s relevant circulars. Convenor said that SLBC have received a reference on the issue of moratorium (period) while undertaking successive rephasement, reschedulement i.e. whether moratorium period has to be granted once or more than that, it was resolved that it has to be one time only. Managing Director, SBBJ said that extension of period may not solve the problem; it can only defer the problem of the issue. Principal Secretary (Agriculture) stated that Banks have so far issued 43 lacs KCCs and still large numbers of farmers are still uncovered and disbursement are still pending. He also raised the issue of Agri Business which is the sunrise sector for growth and prime agenda of Central Government. MD, SBBJ intervened that under Agri business in the State, credit is being made available but entrepreneurs have to come forward to set up the plants under Agri clinics. However Agri graduates are more interested in seeking for government jobs only and they are not interested to set up new units. GM, NABARD informed that for godowns there is a separate scheme and now Government of India has recently introduced new scheme wherein some subsidy (25%) etc. are available for Agriculture graduates so during the current year some more units may be set up. Principal Secretary (Agriculture) reiterated that large numbers of agriculture commodities are produced in Rajasthan and are being processed elsewhere. He impressed upon the Bankers the need to draw these entrepreneurs in the State and State Government will also be taking concerted steps in this direction. He further requested the Bankers to give their full attention to this sector whenever occasion arises. Managing Director, SBBJ assured Principal Secretary (Agriculture) for every help from Bankers to draw these entrepreneurs by giving them adequate credit. Shri Damodar Sharma, Director General, IGPRS added two important points :
He stressed upon the need to bring forward to such entrepreneurs who can undertake integrated marketing functions – production, packaging and sales etc. to raise the income level of the growers. He cited examples wherein vegetables are produced in Rajasthan in large quantity but packed and sold in Delhi. Managing Director, SBBJ wanted State Government to make a start and provide some inducement in terms of concession to get these entrepreneurs stepping into these businesses as is the case in the State of Uttrakhand. Regional Director, RBI flagged the issue to reach out small and marginal farmers, share croppers etc. He referred RBI Governor’s Annual Policy Statement wherein instructions have been issued to Banks, not to insist on a “No Dues Certificate” for small loans upto Rs.50000/- extended to small and marginal farmers, share croppers, etc. and in case of tenant farmers accept certificates provided by local administration / Panchayati Raj Institutions for the purpose. National Agriculture Insurance Scheme Convenor informed the house that the National Agriculture Insurance Scheme is compulsory for loanee farmers and all the Banks must ensure that all loans disbursed by them for eligible crops have been covered under insurance. In view of certain problems encountered by Agricultural Insurance Company, it was suggested that Banks’ branch should make the information available (regarding loan disbursed) to lead Banks at District level so that National Agricultural Insurance scheme can be monitored in an effective manner and figures of loan disbursed or loan insured can be reconciled. He also suggested that in respect of certain crops, Tehsils area insured is more than the area sown, which is not possible so branches should ensure that crops, which has been actually sown by the farmers, should be mentioned otherwise such variations lead to delay in processing and settlement of claims. He further informed that the Agriculture Insurance Company has clarified that Banks are not agents of AIC and the Banks play their role and responsibility as per the provisions of the scheme. This issue was cropped up in the meeting of sub committee on “Agriculture & Rural Development and thereafter AIC has clarified it. Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India suggested that to avoid vide variation between the area sown/ cultivated and the area insured by Banks, there should be a system of Joint signature of Lead District Manager at District level as representative of Bankers and the government representative under the leadership of Chief Development Officer or somebody. Principal Secretary (Agriculture) expressed limitation to this suggestion as Banks extend the loans before the season starts and the District Collector/ Revenue Machinery assess the area under cultivation at the end of the year. While talking in respect of payment of claims Representative of NAIC stated that during the year 2006 they have paid claims for Kharif 2006 with the tune of 180 crores and Rabi 2005-06 to the tune of 84 crores in the month of March- May and late June respectively. He urged Banks to credit the amount of the claims in the account of the farmer in time. He also stated that Banks are lending as per the funds availability but the insurance cover under National Agriculture Insurance Scheme will be restricted only upto the limit of the scale of finance. The house agreed with the representative of NAIS. Agenda No. 5 Rural Godown Scheme Convenor, SLBC, informed the house that the scheme was formulated in 2001-02 by Government of India to create adequate storage infrastructure in the country as also to prevent wastage and deterioration of agricultural products and the scheme has been extended upto 31st March, 2008 i.e. all projects sanctioned on or upto 2008 shall be eligible for subsidy under the scheme. He said that based on the proposals received in the recent months for advanced subsidy, it is estimated that a capacity of 30000 MT will be created in next few months and subsidy amounting to Rs.100 lacs will be released. Convenor, SLBC stated that though the scheme has shown reasonable progress, however the benefits of the scheme have limited to only few Districts like Jodhpur, Bikaner, Nagaur & Sriganganagar while other Districts are lagging behind. Hence the scheme needs to be promoted in other Districts also for all round creation of infrastructure and farmers and other entrepreneurs should utilize this opportunity to augment the storage capacity to get better returns from rentals of storage space. Financial Inclusion He shared his views with Bankers that though financial inclusion should be viewed as a huge business opportunity by all Banks. He said that there should be a good synergy between the people and the Banks to meticulously implement the project. Shri Ajai Kumar shared with the house that the pilot project on Financial Inclusion in the State of Rajasthan was launched on August 25, 2006 at Rajsamand and the task has been completed ahead of the schedule. The project was coordinated by SBBJ. He informed the house that the other lead Banks have also adopted some Districts like :
Regional Director, RBI stated that the matter was of a high priority to RBI. He urged Bankers to come out with some definite time frame for the execution of Financial Inclusion programme. Smt. Malovika Panwar, Principal Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment expressed her happiness and said that this is a matter of great satisfaction that this financial inclusion process in Rajasmand has been completed ahead of time, however, it requires enough publicity. She urged the house that Jaisalmer District should also be included in the next phase of Financial Inclusion in view of significant minority concentration. She urged Bankers to adopt some more rural District for financial Inclusion. SHG Bank Linkage Programme Convenor, SLBC informed the house that the SHG Bank Linkage Programme has witnessed significant progress in the State of Rajasthan as by the end of 31st March 2007, these were more than 1,37,837 SHGs which had been extended credit by financial institutions in the State & as many as 39,666 SHGs were credit linked during the financial year 2006-07, registering a growth of 40.40 % over the preceding year. However the pace of growth in SHG Linkage had declined during the year 2006-07. The house noted that NABARD has taken several initiatives to support SHG movement in the State which includes standardization of grading format, Monthly Information System (MIS) of SHG Bank linkage programme, organizing divisional SHG workshops / training programmes / orientation meets for the benefits of branch managers and staff members of the Banks, faculty support to different Banks for their in house programmes of SHG etc. It was suggested that for promotion of SHG Bank Linkage Programmes, controlling authorities may review position of SHG having saving deposit accounts with their branches and issue them necessary instructions to speedily cover the eligible SHGs under Bank loans. He pointed out that the ‘Core committees’ at the District level may intensify their coordinated efforts towards facilitating Bank linkage to eligible SHGs. They may review the District wise target fixed by the District level teams. Convenor, SLBC said that Monthly Progress report suggested by SLBC should be sent from the controlling banks to NABARD which has been circulated to all the banks for implementation. Managing Director, SBBJ emphasized encouragement of SHG formation and observed that the financing & formation, incubation & hand holding should be continued together as in Andhra Pradesh. He requested State Government to have their paid workers (Lady workers spread out in all villages of the State) who stand incentivized to form SHGs. He gave the example of Andhra Pradesh and said that they have a training institute where ladies are imparted training. Shri Damodar Sharma, Director General, IGPRS informed the house that in rural development under SGSY schemes, SHG groups are being formed and these SHGs are being financed also. Rural Development Department is conducting trainings programmes for different functionaries and beneficiaries in the District and block level. He emphasized that for the marketing part of the products, SHGs should be financed by the Banks as some SHGs are producing different kinds of products and it will ultimately give the backward and forward linkages hence the recovery of Banks can be further increased and improved. He desired to organize certain training programmes for SHGs in the field, after getting the loan for SHGs functioning or marketing their products even at block level. Managing Director, SBBJ intervened and said that the solution is to federating the SHGs and providing marketing network for SHGs will be more important as in case of Mahaboobnagar District in Andhra Pradesh. Representative of Centre for Micro Finance raised the issue of grading of SHGs because without grading, quality of SHGs is not known to the Bankers. He suggested house that Banks should give some sort of promotional cost to SHGs because this is also a way of Financial Inclusion and NABARD should come out with good plan to help in organizing in new SHGs. Representative of Water Shed Department brought in to the notice that after loaning from Banks, Government is also providing revolving fund of Rs.25000/- under National Water Shed Scheme for SHGs without interest. He informed that in Rural Development department, Government of India there is a provision of Rs.10000/- in three instalment as revolving Fund (Rs.30000/-). He said that in Water Shed department there is a training programme but after formation and sustainable position of SHGs. He stated that in Rajasthan very less land holdings are in the name of Women. Representative of Women Self Help Group Institute reiterated some issues :
He referred to the Budget announcements by Hon’ble Chief Minister where in 1000 women per District would be selected for self employment and stated that there should be availability of funds in RUDSETIs for Entrepreneurs Development Training. While discussing about the grading format of SHGs Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India suggested that SLBC should send across this format to Government and obtain their concurrence. Convenor, SLBC stated that the grading format was approved by the house. Project Director, SGSY from Rural Development department stated that in the SGSY scheme, there is a format which differs from the grading format and the marks obtained are linked with credit amount. He urged that financing of SHGs under SGSY scheme should be as per SGSY guidelines. General Manager, NABARD informed that initially there was some objection from Women and Child Development Department then subsequently NABARD constituted sub group including their Executive Director, training programmes and after lot of discussion they finalized this grading format and also circulated to the Banks. He said that this grading format is not meant for SGSY groups and Government of India rules will be followed for these groups. Agenda No. 8 Credit Flow to SMEs / Artisans Convenor, SLBC informed that though the figures furnished in the agenda indicate declining trend of credit flow to SSI, but a close examination of the priority sector reveals that in absolute terms the level of credit flow has witnessed upward trend, however an increased emphasis on retail trade has deflated the impact of credit flow to this sector. Convenor, SLBC stated that most of the SSI branches operationalised by Banks for the purpose, are not getting required business such a situation needs to formulate a region specific plan for enhancement of credit flow to SSI / SME. Cluster approach also offers possibilities of reduction of transaction costs and provides an appropriate scope for improvement in infrastructure. This was informed that the progress under Artisan Credit Card Scheme can be deemed satisfactory as Banks have issued 9309 ACCs as against the target of 10,000 set for the fiscal 2006-07. However, still a lot to be done for accelerating the pace of implementation and there remains a need for effective coordination between General Manager, DICs and Lead District Managers. Banks are also requested to propagate Handloom Weavers Group schemes and increase their finance to Handloom weavers. Member were requested to consider permission to specialized SME branches to accept Government dues as service tax, central excise, income tax, ESI, PF etc. Managing Director, SBBJ expressed his concern on the decision of State Government to taking up of only one treasury in one District, in case treasury business is moving out to only one Bank in the District which is not feasible. He mentioned that there is lack of growth of new SSI units in the State indicated by the registration figures of DIC, which is a cause of concern. He urged to the Banks that if the applications of ACCs are short in branches, fill up at their own. He stated that there are some dwelt beneficiaries of the schemes which need to rectify. While reviewing the issue of rural artisans / handicrafts sectors representative of Industries indicated that some of the applications of ACC were returned to the DIC without assigning any reasons and sub committee constituted for this, will look into the matter for further recommendations. He said that four new units in Rajasthan were also coming forward for Agro Food Park in Ganganagar, Jodhpur, Kota and Alwar and they were having 500 plots in which more than 400 plots were allotted for entrepreneurs and 75 % units are setting up their units. He stated that Ministry of Food Processing Industries had given the powers to Bankers to sanction the loan alongwith the subsidy. (Action : Banks & State Government) Agenda No. 9 Progress Under Government Sponsored Schemes Smt. Malovika Panwar, Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment emphasized on credit flow to minorities. She brought in to the notice of the house that that Government of India has recast the old 15 point programmes for minority welfare which is now called Prime Ministers new 15 point programme. In point no. nine there is pin pointed reference on credit flow and it should be included in our standing agenda for regular review. She said that this issue is going to become the item of very regular review at the level of Prime Ministers’ Office. In case of Rajasthan, Minority constitute 8.5 % of the population and the total number of people in Minority is 57,00,000 and there are five communities in Rajasthan which are included in Minority i.e. Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis and Budhists. She requested that as is the case under SGSY scheme which is having a system of Back ended subsidy it should also be available for the programmes of SCDC. She referred Government of India’s circular dated 2000 in which it is mentioned that every thing existing for SGSY scheme should also apply in toto to the SCDC Schemes. She said that there is new scheme for Manual Scavengers. There are 1323 identified manual scavengers in Rajasthan who are actually carrying head loads, so every identified manual scavenger should be economically rehabilitated. She informed they have name wise list of this scavengers and there is a provision of Rs. 50000/- per manual scavengers for rehabilitation and subsidy component. She requested that this should be accorded very high priority. She also dwelt upon “VISWAS” Scheme which is the State Government’s welfare scheme for handicapped people wherein a grant of Rs. 10000/- or 20% of the project cost is to be funded out of loan from financial institutions with total of Rs.50000/-. She said that if BPL is our top priority, the gravity of this handicap of BPL is to be understood. She said that there are 14,00,000 identified handicap people in the State and as far as disbursement concerned, we have not yet any successful outcomes from cooperative Banks. Ms. Suchi Sharma, General Manager, SCDC said that loans are disbursed in the end of the year it should be in every quarter like they allot the target quarterly so the loans should be disbursed accordingly. She mentioned ‘Swalambhan Yojana’ which was announced by Hon’ble Chief Minister in the budget and there is a provision of giving 5 % subsidy in the interest rate but Banks are not calculating and not advising the amount of subsidy to project managers so the department is unable to give this amount to them. MD, SBBJ suggested State Government to instruct their field functionaries to call a meeting at Block level and then Bankers will know, what is expected from them. Secretary (Planning) requested Banks to expedite the disposal of pending applications and speed up disbursement of sanctioned applications under these Schemes. Project Director, SGSY expressed his concern over pending applications under SGSY. While observing the gap between the sanction and disbursement of loans, Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India informed that this issue was discussed by the Estimate Committee and recommended that there should be some set rules while sanctioning and disbursing the loans by the Banks. He reiterated and requested Banks to prepare applications received register in seriatim and dispose it on first in first out method - either it is sanctioned or rejected. Agenda No. 10 Recovery under Priority Sector The house noted that Bankers expect matching efforts from the State Government in recovering their dues. In this context an important issue which warrants immediate attention is to build up a strong legal framework for speeding up recovery as a huge amount of Banks’ fund is still stuck up with the borrowers and same is mounting up year after year. Though Bankers have filed numerous cases with various competent authorities, the pending of cases under RACO (ROD) Act is very large. The opinion received from Additional Advocate General was underlined by Regional Director, RBI. He said that now the State Government would have to do the needful. Secretary (Planning) informed that he had two round of meeting with legal officer of the Banks as also with law department & revenue department. He said Bankers contended that Public Demand Recovery Act should be amended to incorporate in the definition of Public Demand, the provision for Banking. This way, they felt would be filling of lot of cases which are less than Rs. 10 Lacs in which recoveries could be undertaken by the empowered officers under the PDR Act (Revenue Agencies). The law department said that the Public Demand Act could not incorporate banking. Banking as such falls within the union list of the constitution of India under Item 45 of list one of the seventh schedule. It was not possible to undertake Banking as part of public demand, to be incorporated for a legal amendment in a State legislation under the Public Demand Recovery Act. He said that they are trying further to incorporate such amendments, as the Additional Advocate General’s view and their broad suggestions have been already given. CMD, Bank of Baroda was pained to note the repetition of this agenda in successive meetings and that too without any concrete result. Secretary (Planning) informed that he will try again and take note of the concern expressed by the Bankers and take this issue up to the Chief Secretary and see that we can arrive at consensus. Rural Development & Self Employment Training Institutes (RUDSETIs) - Review It was brought into the notice of the house that the spectacular progress of Rural Development and Self Employment Training (RUDSETI) institutes in the State of Rajasthan is all set to outpace the Karnataka which happens to be homeland of RUDSETIs. The State Government has assured to look into the related issues and sort out the problem of land allotment for building up infrastructure so required. Bankers are also requested to take benefit of 2 % State subsidy on interest given to those people who are trained by RUDSETIs and they should also claim reimburse of rent of the hired premises. Shri Damodar Sharma informed that they are ready to collaborate with RUDSETIs, regarding the training programmes which are been taken up by the RUDSETIs. He offered that now Indira Gandhi Panchayati Raj & Training Institute would like to collaborate with RUDSETIs and they would have seminars and workshops with all the RUDSETIs at State level and more strategies can be evolved gradually in this regard. Annual Credit Plan 2006-07 Convener, SLBC apprised the house that the performance under Annual Credit Plan 2006-07 is fairly well (109%) with all its sub sectors surpassing the set targets and the progress under ACP is being monitored by Lead District Managers at District level, SLBC at State level and Banks at their controlling office level. LDO (RBI) DDM (NABARD) and all Banks are, thus contributing their mite in translating the set targets of credit planning. He urged Banks to monitor the progress under ACP on quarterly basis and ensure cent percent achievement and to suitably advise their branches to participate in the implementation of ACP. He urged to Private Banks who are having more than 5 branches in the State to accept credit allocations under Annual Credit Plan. Agenda No. 13 Integrated Development / Village Development Plan This was informed that NABARD has introduced a model for holistic and integrated developmental model and this consists of two components (i) Pilot Project for Integrated Development (PPID) (ii) Village Development Plan (VDP). Members Banks and Government Department were requested to extend their full cooperation in the implementation of the plan. General Manager, NABARD informed that this year in Rajasthan it is a pilot project for integrated block development that NABARD has taken in 10 blocks for implementing it. He also informed that in this current year they are adopting 5 villages for the purpose and they will conduct bench mark survey, then after they will involve NGOs and comprehensive development action plan will be prepared. They are going to select roughly 25 villages in each block in a period of 3 years and other then this PPID block they are going to select 1 village in each District and repeat the same exercise. After the period of 3 years or 5 years, they will document the progress and other initiatives taken and how success has happened, they will replicate to other blocks also. He requested all the Bankers and Government department to cooperate their District development officers to converse their schemes with the developmental action plan. Director General, Indira Gandhi Panchayati Raj & Training Institute said that State government has already taken lot of initiatives in Rajasthan and instructions have already been issued. He said that village developmental plans with the approval of Gram Sabha and District development are being plans also prepared. So Banks can instruct the Lead Districts that they can be in close contact with the Chief Executive Officers of the Jila Parishad and the Chief Planning Officers of the government so there can be a conversion between the Government Department and the Banks. While concluding the meeting Convenor, SLBC affirmed that this meeting has been highly interactive and deliberations have been very fruitful. He expressed his happiness that this is a very useful forum to discuss the developmental issues of the State in the presence of all the dignitaries, Bankers, senior secretaries to the Government and other members of SLBC who have participated in this meeting. He expected that all the points which have been deliberated are carried forward and some constructive action takes place and we will able to deliberate in the more constructive manner in the ensuing SLBC meeting. The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks to the chair and the distinguished guests. ****************** |
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