Better adoption of technology, loan management, and core banking system facilities should be done in a time-bound manner by the Regional Rural Banks, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said here.The RRBs should focus on increasing digitally active customers in line with the Centre’s effort to move towards greater digitalisation.Sitharaman on a brief visit to the city chaired a closed-door meeting with top officials of Regional Rural Banks from the southern region.
During her interaction with senior officials of the banks and financial institutions, Sitharaman said the Gross Non-Performing Assets (NPA) of RRBs and Provisional Coverage Ratio of the banks in the Southern Region were better than those of regional rural banks present in other parts of the country.
She stressed that the banks and financial institutions should improve the Current Account and Savings Account (CASA) ratio and urged them to continue their focus on the Centre’s various flagship schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, PM SVANidhi, and Atal Pension Yojana, among others.
The Sponsor Bank should map the RRBs with micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) clusters, and improve the presence of the banks in such clusters, Sitharaman said.Secretary of the Department of Financial Services Vivek Joshi made a presentation on various financial metrics of the Regional Rural Banks present in the southern region.
Tamil Nadu Finance Department Principal Secretary T Udhayachandran, other secretaries and senior officers from Finance Ministries of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Puducherry, and Karnataka took part in the meeting.