DC BM Santhosh reviews on Banking sector with the Bankers

Gadwal: District Collector B. M. Santhosh has chaired a coordination meeting with district-level bankers at the Collector's office conference hall. During the meeting, the Collector emphasized the importance of banks meeting their targets in the district. These targets include disbursing loans related to crops, setting up employment units, small and medium enterprises, educational and housing loans, and other priority loans for deserving individuals. Currently, there are 59 banks operating in the district, and plans are underway to establish an additional branch in KT Doddi to enhance financial accessibility in the area.

District Collector B. M. Santosh praised bankers and DRDO officials for surpassing the target, achieving 127% in the last financial year, making the district the top performer in the state. He highlighted that the target of linking self-help societies with banks was set at 170 crores, which was successfully achieved. However, he noted that crop loans and loans in priority sectors like education fell short of expectations in the previous year. To address this, the Collector urged all banks to actively identify deserving candidates in villages and facilitate loans for them. He suggested organizing village meetings to raise awareness about various bank loan schemes among villagers, aiming to improve access to financial services.

During the event, District Collector B. M. Santosh and ZP Chairperson Sarita unveiled the annual loan plan book for the financial year 2024-25, setting a target of Rs. 5251.08 crores. This includes Rs. 4191.23 crores for the agriculture sector, Rs. 474.47 crores for priority sectors, and Rs. 156.07 crores for non-priority sectors.

Reflecting on the previous financial year, the Collector highlighted that out of the allocated Rs. 4675.42 crores in 2023-24, loans totaling Rs. 2703.46 crores were disbursed, achieving only 57.82% of the set target. He emphasized the need for close coordination between officers and bankers to effectively achieve the newly set goals for the current financial year.

In the meeting attended by Zilla Parishad Chairperson Sarita, DRDO, In-charge Additional Collector (Local Bodies) Narsinga Rao, LDM Ayyapu reddy, NABARD DDM Manohar Reddy, RBI LDO Prithvi Falguni, and other officials, there was a strong emphasis on enhancing coordination to achieve loan disbursement targets across all sectors. Immediate action was proposed to clear pending Utilization Certificates (UCs) from the year 2016-17 and ensure timely loans for YS students. The stakeholders stressed the importance of diligent efforts to ensure prompt repayment of loans to sustain financial health and support ongoing developmental initiatives in the district.