Karnataka banks fix priority credit target at Rs 48,612 crore

The SLBC (State-level Bankers' Committee) Karnataka has fixed an annual credit target of Rs 48,612 crore under priority sector credit for 2012-13.

According to Mr M.G. Sanghvi, Chairman and Managing Director of Syndicate Bank, and Chairman – SLBC Karnataka, the target is, however, subject to review when Nabard receives the priority sector target for the State fixed by the Union Government, and would be taken up for modification.

Total disbursals

Banks in Karnataka disbursed Rs 55,231 crore under priority sector credit during 2011-12 against the revised annual target of Rs 46,027 crore.

Agri sector

Under agriculture sector, banks disbursed Rs 28,608 crore, of which the share of crop production loan was Rs 19,135 crore.

Other sectors

Under secondary and tertiary sectors, the disbursement was Rs 11,930 crore and Rs 14,621 crore respectively.

Credit-deposit ratio

While reviewing the banks' performance in the State during 2011-12, Mr Sanghvi said that the aggregate deposits stood at Rs 4.02 lakh crore, while aggregate advances were Rs 2.99 lakh crore with a credit deposit ratio of 74.57 per cent. The advances to priority sector stood at Rs 1.21 lakh crore, constituting 40.34 per cent of credit.

Similarly, the advance to agriculture sector was Rs 54,764 crore, comprising 18.26 per cent of the total credit, which is above the stipulated level of 18 per cent.

Advances to MSME sector stood at Rs 51,605 crore as of March 2012.

Financial inclusion

At the 121st meeting of SLBC Karnataka on Tuesday, Mr Sanghvi requested the banks to provide banking outlets in the second phase of the financial inclusion programme and complete the process by the targeted date of March 31, 2013. He urged the banks to complete the process by December 31 this year.

Highlighting the action taken by the State Government in fully computerising the land records, he said that this should be utilised fully to enable the farmers to obtain hassle-free agriculture credit and to avoid tampering of land records.

The State government has already issued the Gazette Notification authorising bankers to download the records from the Bhoomi Web site.

anju@thehindu.co.in