Exceeding the targets announced by state finance minister Asim Dasgupta in 2010-11, commercial banks in West Bengal have set the target for credit disbursement to the agricultural and allied sectors for 2010-11 at Rs 16,000 crore.
Although there has been a sharp increase in agricultural disbursal targets this fiscal yet it falls short of the requirement of the state. According to the Dave Committee report, the minimum annual requirement of bank credit for agriculture and allied activities in West Bengal is about Rs 25,000 crore.
The agricultural credit disbursement target for the current fiscal is a sharp increase over last year’s disbursal of Rs 8,178 crore. In his budget speech Dasgupta had set a credit disbursement target of Rs 12,158 crore to the agricultural and allied sectors, which was 45% more than the state’s target the previous fiscal.
Rural credit disbursement was slow in the first half of last fiscal but picked up during the second half and touched 8,178 crore during 2009-10 against a target of Rs 9,015 crore. Rural credit in West Bengal has seen more than 90% growth in the last few years. In 2008-09, rural credit disbursed by the banks was at Rs 6,207 crore, a 93% rise over 2007-08?s disbursal of Rs 4,662 crore. It actually increased from Rs 2,970 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 3,580 crore in 2006-07.
In its 111th meeting on Wednesday, the West Bengal state Level Bankers’ Committee has also decided to increase priority sector lending to Rs 26,100 crore, an increase of 48% over the target set in 2009-10.
Meanwhile, the commercial banks in the state have linked 1,17,372 self help groups with savings accounts and extended credit facilities to 1,52,067 SHGs.