Don’t delay infrastructure, Pranab tells western states
September 17th, 2011 - 7:04 pm ICT by IANS
Mumbai, Sep 17 (IANS) Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Saturday urged chief ministers of India’s western states to ensure speedy approval for various infrastructure projects which are held up due to regulatory issues.
In his ongoing economic exercise of direct interaction with states, Mukherjee held a meeting here of chief ministers or representatives of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa and Union Territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
“I have got feedback from PSU banks that over 140 big projects have been held up due to regulatory approvals. Delay in implementation of projects, particularly infrastructure and manufacturing projects deprive the economy of their benefits,” he said.
Pointing out that the delays also affect downstream investments and employment generation, Mukherjee urged the chief ministers to pay “personal attention” to reviewing approvals of such large projects.
The finance minister said the central government has targeted an agricultural credit flow of Rs.475,000 crore, of which Rs.112,731 crore has already been extended.
He urged the states to create awareness about the four percent short-term crop loans being extended to the farmers who do not default on loans. “It must be ensured that no eligible farmer is left out (of the scheme),” Mukherjee said.
Discussing the ambitious “Swabhiman” scheme for financial inclusion launched by the central government, Mukherjee said 73,000 habitations are targeted to be covered by banking services around the country.
Of these, 15,547 fall in the western zone, from which 38 percent (5,940) habitations have already been covered by March 2011.
Mukherjee called upon the western state governments and banks to speed up the process and cover the remaining 9,607 habitations by March 2012.
The finance minister expressed concern over low credit deposit ratio in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa and Dadra & Nagar Haveli and asked their representatives to utilise the services of the State Level Bankers’ Committee to boost CDR.
Besides the representatives of the Western Zone states, the meeting was attended by top executives of PSU banks and leading government financial institutions.
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Tags: agricultural credit, chhattisgarh, chief ministers of india, credit flow, crop loans, crore, dadra nagar haveli, daman and diu, employment generation, habitations, infrastructure projects, madhya pradesh, ministers of india, pranab mukherjee, psu banks, regulatory approvals, speedy approval, state governments, union finance minister, western zone