Patna, May 16: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today stressed for transparency in the banking service at the micro level to cater to the need of the rural people in the state.
“Though there has been significant reforms in banking services at the macro level, there is a need of reforms and transparency at the micro level to cater to the banking needs of the rural people,” Kumar told the bankers at the State Level Bankers' Committee meeting here.
There was no transparency in the banking services in the rural areas in an era of the information and communication technology as most of the branches were not computerized nor have facilities for direct transfer of money from outside, Kumar said.
The banks also required to change their mindset about perceived incapability of the borrowers from poor economic background to return their loan and urged the lenders to provide loans for farming, education and socio-economic activities of the self-help groups.
It was noticed that the banks were charging interest on the subsidy component of the loan taken by the SHGs to run welfare programmes for the people, Kumar said and asked them not to do it.
It was also been observed that the banks are not inclined to provide loans to the Lac bangle manufacturers and asked the bankers to change their attitude.
Stating that small borrowers have to run from pillar to post to get loans from the banks, he said that the banks should implement a citizens charters to provide their service in a time-bound manner.
Kumar asked the banrigation scheme as it was launched three years ago with the consent of the banks and the Planning Commission, but has achieved only 15 per cent target.
He asked the bankers to consider as to how they could help in implementation of the agriculture road map in which the state government proposed to invest Rs. 1.5 lakh crore over the next five years and advised the bankers to convene a separate SLBC meeting on agriculture.
He also prodded the bankers to further increase the Cash Deposit Ration (CDR) in Bihar from the present 35 per cent to at least 40 per cent, a target which still remained far below the national average at 77 per cent.
State govt. to address security concerns of the banks: Nitish
The state government, he said, would address the security concerns of the banks in view of growing number of theft and loot cases in the banking institutions.
