Public sector banks in West Bengal managed to disburse merely half of targeted amount of advances towards the agricultural and small and medium enterprises sector in the first nine months of 2009-10.
The PSBs have disbursed Rs 4,800 crore in agricultural sector till December 2009, nearly half of its target for the fiscal. They had earlier set a disbursal target of Rs 9,015 crore during 2009-10.
Although, there has been substantial distribution of kisan credit cards in the state, credit offtake in the agricultural sector has not achieved proportions commensurate with that. ?Credit limits under KCCs are sanctioned at a time but the credit offtake actually takes place during the rabi crop season,? said a senior PSB official. ?The outstanding amount might rise in the March report,? he added.
Advances to MSME was Rs 2,386 crore, 54% of the target of Rs 4,402 crore. ?The advances towards MSMEs are, in fact, an increase of 60.46%, over the outstanding balance for MSME in 2008,? said the official. Disbursement to the medium enterprises have grown by 46% during the period.
According to estimates, the outstanding agricultural advances of the state amount to almost 12.27% of ANBC against a benchmark of 18%. Meanwhile, small regional rural banks have performed better during 2009-10 towards their advances in agricultural sector.
Bangiya Gramin Vikas Bank (BGVB) has disbursed Rs 630 crore till February 2010, against a target of Rs 843.20 crore. The West Bengal State Cooperative Bank has also disbursed Rs 1,000 crore during the first 11 months of 2009-10, which might go up to Rs 1,100 crore by the end of the fiscal.
