ZP CEO directs audit on rejection of PM Svanidhi applications

Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat CEO orders audit on bank rejections of PM SVANidhi scheme applications.

Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer K. Anandh on Monday, March 11, directed the Lead Bank District Manager to conduct an audit on why banks rejected applications filed by street vendors for assistance under the Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme.

Speaking at the meeting of the district-level review committee and district consultative committee for banking development in Dakshina Kannada, Dr. Anandh said applications under the PM SVANidhi scheme cannot be rejected by banks. He directed Lead Bank District Manager Kavitha N. Shetty to find out the reasons for the same.

Ms. Shetty said 11,853 applications under the 1st tranche of the PM SVANidhi scheme were sanctioned, while 3163 and 1,013 applications were sanctioned under the second and third tranches of the scheme respectively in the district as on March 5, 2024.

Earlier, Dr. Anandh expressed his displeasure over banks not meeting the target of opening a minimum of 10 overdraft accounts of PM Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) per quarter per branch. Of the 3,870 targets fixed for a nationalised bank, only 376 OD accounts have been opened. “I am not able to understand the problem. We need to have serious look at the 6% achievement in PMJDY and re-work the targets, if need be,” Dr. Anandh said.

Thanu Nanjappa, Manager of the Financial Inclusion and Development Department of the Reserve Bank of India, took exception to the improper way in which banks were conducting customer meets and said the RBI was considering penalising such banks. He asked banks not to send away customers who bring cut currency notes for exchanging or depositing.

Ms. Shetty said the total banking business in Dakshina Kannada as of December 31, 2023, was at ₹1.15 lakh crore in 646 banks of the district, which was growth of 15.73% year-to-year. Deposits were at ₹67,523.90 crore, while advances were at ₹48,269.91 crore. The credit deposit ratio was at 71.49% as of December 31, 2023, which was 6.53% more 64.96% in December 2022.

The total disbursement for priority and non-priority sectors for the December quarter 2023-24 was ₹37,376.93 crore of which ₹11,474.72 crore was for agriculture, ₹5,361.74 crore for MSME, ₹90.67 crore for education and ₹305.46 crore for housing sector. The total priority sector lending in the period was ₹19,045.60 crore as against target of ₹16,423.54 crore, Ms. Shetty said