Sri S K Panda, Chief Secretary, GOT in his opening remarks expressed his opinion as under:
SLBC is an important forum where all the stakeholders can come together and sort out problems.
Financial Inclusion is the order of the day and we shall have to carry it to all the rural people in its real sense i.e. providing access to all kind of banking services to such people. This is a real challenge for all of us.
Up to the quarter under review there has been some progress in the performance of some banks. But, the overall progress is slow because of poor performance by some other banks, which has pulled down the overall performance of the State.
It is good to see that the CD ratio has improved marginally by 2%, which however is not enough. All the banks must realize the agrarian nature of the State and put maximum thrust on Agriculture Advance to bring about improvement in Agriculture Advance.
It is to be introspected why out of about 81000 proposals for KCC sponsored to the banks only 36000 odd KCCs have been issued up to Dec 2010. A committee to be headed by the DGM, CRM,UBI, Tripura Region will meet on 12th instant and examine the reasons for non sanction and work out remedial measures.
Credit Involvement per KCC should also to be increased to Rs 30000/- in accordance with the scale of finance to be finalized by District Technical Committee.
1/6th of the total land of the entire State is forestland where local people have been given right to cultivate. The State Govt. has issued Patta in their favour so that each one of them can avail of a KCC. But, the progress is very poor.
SLBC meetings should be held regularly at quarterly interval to avoid communication gap. The next SLBC meeting is proposed to held on 24th May as per yearly calendar already issued.
Thereafter, Shri Panda requested the convener, SLBC to start Agenda wise discussion through Power Point Presentation. The items already covered in the discussion held earlier are not repeated for the sake of brevity:
Confirmation of the proceedings of the 95th meeting of SLBC for Tripura held on 27.8.2010: The house accepted the proceedings.
Follow up of action points on the major decisions taken in 95th meeting of SLBC, Tripura:
- Improvement of CD ratio: The CD ratio has improved from 30% as on March 2010 to 33% as on Dec 2010. This issue has been covered earlier.
- Financing Agriculture and allied activities: The representative of Agriculture Deptt. pointed out that out of 81000 proposals of KCC sponsored by the State Govt, the banks have sanctioned only about 17000 odd KCCs. In this regard the Chief Secretary has already opined that committee under the Chairmanship of CRM, UBI will examine the issue, find out the reasons of non- sanction and suggest remedial measures. NABARD will monitor the issue and as only three weeks time is left, the meeting may be convened on 12th instant and sanction as many proposal as possible within Branch. Shri Bansal opined that the banks should not find it difficult to achieve the target of 65000 if the papers are okay.
- Issuance of KCCs: Covered in the earlier item.
- Achievement under ACP: The issue has been discussed by ED in his speech hence; need not be repeated.
- Gradation and credit linkage of SHGs: The house noted the progress; the gradation process is continuing, So far 1411 nos of SHGs have been graded for credit linkage. Shri Kumar Alok, Commissioner and Secretary, Rural Development Deptt. alleged that the banks are disbursing only the subsidy component without disbursing the loan component. However, the bankers opined that there might be sporadic instances of such non-release of loan component, which will be addressed if specific instances are reported to the banks. Shri P K Roy pointed out that average credit involvement per SHG in the State is Rs.57000/= which indicates that loan components are obviously disbursed with some exception here and there. He wanted to have a copy of such list of non- disbursement for taking up the issue with the concerned banks. The Chairman, TGB informed the house that arrear subsidy on SGSY to the tune of Rs 2.00 crore has not been released in their favour and sought early release of the same. The commissioner assured that there is no dearth of fund and the subsidy will be released soon along with backlog of previous years. The issue of credit of fund in the accounts of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) body was also discussed. The bankers are allegedly holding this fund for 3-4 months and utilizing it as float fund. The bankers have been requested to ensure credit of such fund within 5 days. The Chief Secretary desired to review the issue in the next SLBC meeting.
- Non insistence of collateral security for loans up to Rs.10.00 lac. (Since revised to Rs.10.00lac): All the member banks have been repeatedly requested to percolate the decision to the branch level for strict adherence. Banks are once again requested to issue fresh guidance to the branches, as new incumbents are not always aware of the latest RBI directives.
- RSETI in Dhalai and Tripura (North): In Dhalai district the RSETI has started functioning. In Tripura (N) district the premises has not yet been made available.
- Opening of branch at Nalua, Manubankul, Chellagang and Raishyabari: TSCB has opened a branch at Nalua. SBI & TGB are expected to open their branches at Manu Bankul and Chellagang respectively soon. In Raishyabari UCO Bank is willing to set up a banking outlet through BC model, which will not be possible, as they are not having a branch within a radius of 30 Kms. UCO Bank has to open a branch within 2 months at Raishyabari.
- Land Possession Certificates to be issued by VLWs and counter signed by BDOs. In many cases such certificates have been issued without properly mentioning the land schedule.
- Opening of branches in 12 identified centers: TGB has opened a branch at Rupaichari; UBI has opened branches at Chakmaghat and Anandanager in the the current month. The other branches of TGB/TSCB will also be opened soon.
- Roadmap for providing banking outlets: The roadmap comprising of 419 unbanked villages was finalized by SLBC and submitted to RBI.However, as the State Government has signed MOU with TGB and TSCB for making payment under NREGA in certain villages allotted to other banks under FIP, we may have to reallocate these villages to TGB & TSCB for providing banking services under FIP including Payments under NREGA and NOAP after receipt of letter from Commissioner & Secretary, RD for such reallocation of villages..
Financial Inclusion Plan: The process is continuing in Tripura (North), Tripura (South) and Dhalai district all of which are nearing 100% inclusion. The house noted the progress. All the banks have submitted their roadmap for finalization of FIP. UBI has already set up CSP in 49 villages while TGB has set up 79 CSPs. The other banks are now in different stages of engagement of Business Correspondent in different villages allotted to them. The State Govt. should also provide exhaustive list of villages having population less than 2000 for covering nearby small villages also by the same BC.
