Banks should not reject loan applications from beneficiaries of government schemes without a valid reason: Udupi ZP CEO

Udupi Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer H. Prasanna directs banks in the district to enhance credit-to-deposit (CD) ratio from 47% to at least 60%

Udupi Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer H. Prasanna directed banks in the district to enhance lending, particularly to beneficiaries of government-sponsored schemes, so that the credit-to-deposit (CD) ratio reaches at least 60%.

Chairing the bankers’ review committee meeting in Udupi, Mr. Prasanna said though banks had been collecting good amount of deposits, the lending rate was not satisfactory. This has resulted in reduced CD ratio. “Banks should not reject loan applications from beneficiaries of government schemes without a valid reason. If there were defects in such applications, the same have to be got corrected through officials of the departments concerned,” he said.

Mr. Prasanna said banks have to get micro, small and medium enterprises registered on the Udyam portal. “There are about 16,000 MSMEs in the district. Those registered on the portal should be offered loans based on the registration. They should not be asked for trade licence while loans may be offered with an NOC from the local self-government.”

Canara Bank’s Regional Manager Leena Pinto said ₹15,173 crore was advanced in the district during 2021-22 surpassing the target by 13.81%. While agriculture sector got ₹4,776 crore (60.01% of the target), the aim is to achieve 100% of the target in 2022-23. MSME sector was provided ₹2,635 crore (102.65%), education sector got ₹96 crore advances (59.25%) and housing sector got ₹653 crore (70.21%), she said.

The CD ratio in the district was 47.25%, Ms. Pinto said adding concerted efforts were being made to improve the ratio.

RBI Manager and district nodal officer Tanu Nanjappa, Union Bank’s Regional Manager Vasapa and others were present.