Rs.475,000 crore crop loan target to be surpassed: Pranab
November 8th, 2011 - 6:25 pm ICT by IANS
Kolkata, Nov 8 (IANS) Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday said the target of Rs.475,000 crore crop loan to be provided to farmers this fiscal will be surpassed.
“We had said that we will double the short-term crop loan to the farmers within three years that was announced by my predecessor in the 2005 budget. Within two years, we surpassed the target,” Mukherjee told reporters after holding an ‘internal discussion’ with the chairmen and managing directors (CMDs) of Kolkata-based Allahabad Bank, United Bank of India and UCO Bank.
“Last year, my target was to provide Rs.375,000 crore short-term crop loan to the farmers. This year I have fixed the target of Rs.475,000 crore and I am confident that we will surpass that target,” he added.
Mukherjee said there were three agendas in the discussion viz financial inclusion, current status of bank branch expansion and opening of branches at un-banked blocks in nine states — West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
“In my budget speech of 2010-11, I announced that we shall provide banking facilities to the villages having population of more than 2,000. In this region in 2009-10, 10,721 villages were identified where banking facilities are to be provided,” the finance minister said.
Up to September, 4,969 of these villages have been covered and remaining 5,752 villages are expected to be covered by March 2012, he added.
He said the number of accounts to be opened in the nine states were 21,31,754.
- Don't delay infrastructure, Pranab tells western states - Sep 17, 2011
- India continues to face inflation, cause for concern: Mukherjee - Feb 28, 2011
- Pranab to review banks' performance - Jul 07, 2011
- Allocation for agriculture up 18 percent - Mar 16, 2012
- Record food production in 2010-11, says president - Mar 12, 2012
- Budget focuses on farm sector: Analysts - Feb 28, 2011
- Vidarbha farmers unimpressed by budget - Feb 28, 2011
- Rs.4,868 crore compensation to public sector banks - Jul 30, 2010
- Yes Bank to invest Rs.5,000 crore in education infrastructure - Jul 09, 2011
- Agriculture reform at heart of Pranab's budget - Feb 28, 2011
- NABARD registers 24.2 percent loan growth in Bengal (Lead) - Apr 04, 2012
- NABARD registers 24.2 percent loan growth in Bengal - Apr 04, 2012
- Pranab Mukherjee promises more rural banks - Feb 11, 2011
- Drought-hit farmers get additional time to repay loans - Feb 26, 2010
- Allahabad Bank eyes business growth of 24 percent (Lead) - Jun 10, 2011
Tags: allahabad bank, arunachal pradesh, assam, bank of india, bank united, branch expansion, budget speech, manipur, meghalaya, mizoram, nagaland, pranab mukherjee, sikkim, target, tripura, uco bank, union finance minister, united bank, united bank of india, west bengal