Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Dec 06, 2005 |
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Money & Banking
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Farm credit Agri-Biz & Commodities - Corporate Farming SBBJ to hike farm lending taking corporates along Santanu Sanyal
Kolkata , Dec. 5 STATE Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur (SBBJ) proposes to step up farm lending in partnership with the corporate sector, according to Mr S.K. Bhattacharyya, Managing Director of the bank. "As per the government's policy, the farm sector must grow and the growth impetus, in my opinion, has to come through the participation of the corporate sector," Mr Bhattacharyya told Business Line. "Right now, there is hardly any post-harvest activity in rural areas even as opportunities exist for warehousing and distribution, food and fruit processing and various other kinds of activities with corporate sector participation," he said. Explaining how the bank proposed to involve the corporate sector in farm lending, he referred to contract farming in which the corporate sector could participate in a big way. "We will finance the farmers to be brought under contract farming," he said. In 2004-05, the growth in agriculture credit of the bank was around 50 per cent at Rs 2,218 crore over the previous year. "We are targeting a total business of Rs 40,000 crore in the current fiscal against Rs 30,500 crore in 2004-05," he added. Another area identified for corporate sector participation would be through the setting up of a model village. "In Rajasthan, where our presence is the strongest, we will select a village and, with the help of the village sarpanch, identify all eligible borrowers whose credit requirement will be fully met by the bank while the socio-economic support to the programme would be provided by a private sector firm," he said. "We are also keen that self-help groups participate in such programmes as our experience with these groups has been rewarding," he added. One more area where the private sector participation is expected to be substantial is in the cultivation of jatropha and aloe vera. "A good deal of interest has already been shown by the private sector in the cultivation of these plants and we are there to provide finance," Mr Bhattacharyya said. While jatropha is to be grown for producing bio-diesel, aloe vera, a cactus type plant in wild profusion in rural areas, has medicinal as well as chemical properties. Core-banking: According to Mr Bhattacharyya, the implementation of the core-banking solution was progressing fast, and by month-end the entire 829 branches would be brought under it. At present, 723 branches had been covered, he said. Mr Bhattacharyya last week opened the bank's first branch in Bhubaneshwar, also the third in Orissa. "Depending on the business growth in the remainder of the current fiscal, we might consider opening a second branch in Bhubaneshwar," he said. In Kolkata, the bank's plan to open two branches at Ajaynagar and Jodhpur Park has not made much headway due to the non-availability of suitable locations.
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