The Hindu Business Line : `Banks must ensure rotation of funds'

BANKS should ensure the rotation of funds and extend timely monetary assistance to customers, said the Union Minister of State for Finance, Mr S. S. Palani Manickam.

He was opening the 596th branch of State Bank of India (with a core banking facility in Tamil Nadu And Pondicherry Circle) on Thursday. It is the 12th branch in Theni district.

Bank funds are no longer debts, but monetary assistance for the development of the economy, the minister said. Timely assistance is necessary and it would not be difficult for banks to identify people who can repay. Since the formation of the UPA Government, banks have been directed to double assistance for education, self-help groups and agriculture in three years. The targets are being surpassed, he said, citing the higher credit-deposit ratio in Theni district.

The SBI General Manager (LHO), Chennai, Mr P. Pradeep Kumar, pointed out that two-thirds of the bank's branches are in rural areas. The credit-deposit ratio in Tamil Nadu Circle is 110 per cent, with the total business in the circle crossing Rs 43,000 crore.

The bank has launched `Grapes Plus,' a scheme for grape cultivation, and has sanctioned credit of Rs 316.10 lakh, said the SBI Deputy General Manager, Madurai, Mr N. Sadasivam. Rs 761.71 lakh has been lent for agriculture and an ATM will be set up in six months, he added.

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