Key Takeaways
- The Union Finance Minister called for a higher CD Ratio to strengthen lending in the Northeast.
- Regional Rural Banks must prioritize MSME credit under schemes like PM Mudra Yojana and Kishan Credit Card.
- A 30‑day roadmap will set intervention targets for banks, with a 90‑day performance review.
Agartala: Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday advised the bankers on improving Credit-Deposit in North-Eastern states and lending to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
She said as MSME is an important sector for the economy of the Northeastern states, greater thrust on lending to MSME will be given by both public sector banks and Regional Rural Banks as well.
Sitharaman, who was on a two-day visit to Tripura, chaired a review meeting of the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) of North-Eastern states in Agartala on Friday night.
In the meeting, discussions focused on the financial performance of the regional rural banks.
The banks’ role in flagship schemes—PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, PM Surakhsha Bima Yojana, PM Jan Dhan Yojana, PM Mudra Yojana and Kishan Credit Card—was also examined.
The Finance Minister asked the RRBs to work towards meeting the credit requirements of rural people of the North Eastern states. As most of the people in the Northeast region are engaged in agri-allied activities such as animal husbandry and fisheries, she asked the regional rural banks to focus on lending under Kishan Credit Card for allied activities for meeting the credit requirements of such people.
She highlighted the main points of discussion of the meeting and said, a roadmap has to be prepared within 30 days which indicates interventions each RRB has to make to improve their performance in areas where performance is not up to the mark and targets for next 90 days to be given to RRBs to demonstrate improvement.
In the review meeting, Secretary of the Department of Financial Services and Chairman of SBI and NABARD and top officials and representatives from other banks and senior government officials of the region were present.
