Pranab Mukherjee to meet CMs of Northern states, PSU bankers tomorrow

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will meet chief ministers of the Northern states and heads of public sector banks here tomorrow to review the credit needs of the region and progress of central schemes.

The meeting is expected to take up a range of issues including loans related parameters, especially for agriculture, micro and small enterprises, housing, education, weaker sections and credit-deposit ratio.

Besides, the finance minister is likely to discuss the impact of RBI's recent decision to raise key short-term borrowing and lending rate by 25 basis points to control inflation, which crossed double digit mark in May.

This will be specially relevant as heads of the public sector banks will be part of the meeting to be held in the union territory.

Among those expected to attend the deliberations on Tuesday, include chief ministers of Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, UP, Delhi and the Lieutenant Governor of Chandigarh.

One of the key points of discussion in the meeting would be financial inclusion to provide appropriate banking services to areas having population of over 2,000 by March 2012.

The meeting would also review the implementation of two centrally sponsored schemes -- the Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (insurance for common man) and the co-contributory pension scheme Swavalambam.

Besides, the chairmen of public sector banks, heads of Nabard, Sidbi, IIFCL and Exim Bank will be present in the meeting.

The latest meeting comes after similar rounds of negotiations held by the finance minster with chief ministers and other officials in eastern and north-eastern states as well as west and central zones, where delivery of credit to the poor was the primary focus.

The Chandigarh deliberations will also take stock of the financial performance of the banks. The credit flow to various sectors would also be assessed.

The broad agenda of the meeting includes review of credit growth and agriculture credit, infrastructure lending and a bank network in 129 blocks in the northern states that don't have banks.

Among others, capital adequacy over medium-term and housing and education loans would also be taken up in the meeting.