Dragged by the poor progress of the monsoons, banks have so far met only 57 per cent of their Rs 24,629-crore agricultural lending target in Maharashtra, a top banker said here today.

“Roughly about 57 per cent of the targets have been met. I believe that it should have been much more,” Bank of India Chairman and Managing Director Alok Misra, who also heads Indian Banks Association, told reporters here.

RBI Governor D Subbarao had convened the state-level banking committee meeting on Thursday which was attended by the State Government officials and the bank chiefs.

Agriculture needs to be supported and bankers will complete lending by next month-end, Misra said.

In a statement issued last month, Maharashtra had said that Rs 24,629 crore of crop loans would be disbursed in the State during the season.

Union Bank of India Chairman and Managing Director D Sarkar said his bank has achieved 70 per cent of the lending target in the State.

Meanwhile, senior bankers said there were no plans to waive farm loans like it was done in 2009.

The monsoon is expected to be 15 per cent deficient this year, the first indication of a drought in three years.

“We expect monsoon to be 15 per cent deficient than the long period average (LPA) which is 89 cm,” Met Department Director-General Laxman Singh Rathore had said.

The poor and delayed monsoons has led to concerns over food inflation and has been cited as one of the main reasons for downward growth forecasts by analysts and research houses in the last one week.

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