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Our Bureau

Call for augmenting credit-deposit ratio

Kolkata , Jan. 11

The West Bengal Regional Office of Nabard, in a State Focus Paper (2007-08) released on Wednesday, has estimated the potential-linked credit plans (PLPs) projection for West Bengal for 2007-08 at Rs 9,629 crore, up from Rs 8,273 crore for 2006-07, an increase of 16 per cent.

The ground level credit (GLC) flow during 2005-06, according to the Paper, was Rs 6,587 crore against PLP projection of Rs 7,992 crore, leaving a gap of Rs 1,405 crore.

Emphasis has been given to Nabard's initiatives to achieve the targets fixed for disbursement for direct agriculture credit, especially in the context of doubling of credit by the State-Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) for 2006-07, fixed at Rs 4,000 crore.

The paper, which aggregates the credit potential of all the 18 districts of the State, was handed over to Mr Samar Ghosh, Principal Secretary (Finance).

The report details the gaps in infrastructure and the constraints, while identifying the available potential for realising the full benefits to rural Bengal.

The State Focus Paper, among others, has mentioned that the credit-deposit (C-D) ratio of commercial banks at 61 per cent, RRBs at 45 per cent and co-operatives at 59 per cent as on March 31, 2006 need to be further increased for which suitable strategies are required to be finalised by all the banks, especially for augmenting the C-D ratio.

In his keynote address, Mr Ghosh said that faster and more inclusive growth was the need of the hour.

Stating that growth with employment generation was the aim of the Government, he said that the small/marginal farmers, who are resource-starved, need institutional credit at affordable cost and the banks have to rise to the occasion.

According to him, another area requiring concerted attention is improvement in extension services to agriculture and allied activities.

Though there is public sector investment in minor irrigation activities, the private sector has to play a major role; to enable it, banks have to step in with adequate credit support.

Stating that Bengal had tremendous agro-based industry potential, Prof Arun Sinha, Director of Nabard, said that the State was at the crossroads, "facing the challenges to improve the economic condition of the people."

The State is taking adequate steps to achieve an economy driven by growth in both agrarian and industrial sectors, he added.

More Stories on : Farm credit | West Bengal | Agricultural Institutions

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