Palakkad district has already been declared the first district in the country to achieve cent percent financial inclusion.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It already has an enviable distinction of being a fully-literate state in the country. Now, Kerala has decided to claim conquest over the finances as well.
The state has set a target of including every household in the state in the banking network, and as the first step, Palakkad district has already been declared the first district in the country to achieve cent percent financial inclusion.
A year-long campaign by the bankers has borne fruits with the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) setting June as the deadline for making Kerala a total banking state. The action plan to achieve this has been chalked out by the SLBC, which met in Thiruvananthapuram last week.
“This would mean that every household in the state would have at least one bank account and would be eligible for a general-purpose loan up to Rs25,000,” said Alok K Misra, executive director, Canara Bank, who chaired the meeting.
He added that the credit-deposit ratio (CD ratio) of the state has grown 25 percent to 68.21 percent since March 2001. The total deposits have grown from Rs70,708 crore in September 2005 to Rs82,970 crore in September 2006, a year-on-year growth of 17.34 per cent.
Domestic deposits accounted for 60.95 percent of the total deposits and this ratio is gradually increasing. The current financial year saw a growth of Rs3.5 crore in domestic deposits. The NR deposits, which stood at Rs 28,819 crore as on September 2005, grew by Rs 3583 crore (12.43 per cent) as on September 2006.
In the meeting, RBI regional director N Krishna Mohan declared Palakkad district as the first district in the country to achieve cent percent financial inclusion.
The meeting directed all banks to ensure that agriculture sector in the state be given loans to the tune of Rs 9645 crore during the next financial year. A working group would be formed to finalise the action plan for credit flow to agriculture sector during the 11th Plan.
By March, all the eligible farmers in the state would be given Kisan Credit Cards. So far banks have sanctioned 21 lakh Kisan Credit Cards in the state.
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