Garhwal Post Bureau
Dehradun, 27 Nov: Secretary, Finance, Dilip Jawalkar chaired the 94th meeting of the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) here today. During the meeting, Jawalkar urged the banks to work towards achieving a Credit-Deposit Ratio of 60 per cent in the state and also expedite the disposal of pending loan applications under self-employment related schemes.
During the meeting held at the Secretariat here today, the Finance Secretary emphasised that Lead District Managers in the districts with a low Credit-Deposit Ratio (CD Ratio) must adopt special strategies and highlighted the importance of linking financial activities of hotels, tourism, and power projects, particularly in the hill districts, with the local banks. He stressed that any unit operating within a district should conduct its financial transactions through the banks in that same district.
The meeting also stressed on the need for the banks to issue a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for granting loans based on Swamitva (Ownership) Cards.
Jawalkar emphasised that public awareness campaigns be intensified to spread information about the Aapki Punji, Aapka Adhikar initiative, and instructed the government departments to actively participate in the campaign. He further asked the banks to ensure the availability of video conferencing facilities at their district headquarters branches to enable online testimony in judicial proceedings under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNS)-2023.
Expressing strong displeasure over the large number of pending applications in employment generation loan schemes, Jawalkar said that the banks concerned must dispose of these applications on priority and extend financial assistance to the MSME sector with urgency. He also called for prioritising the allocation of education loans, particularly for children from economically weaker families, to ensure equitable access to opportunities.
Additional Secretaries Ranjana Rajguru, Himanshu Khurana, Nivedita Kukreti, Abhishek Ruhela and senior bank officials were present at the meeting.
