Private banks should give more benefits to people under central schemes: ADC Bilaspur

Private sector banks in the district should give more benefits to people under various government schemes, especially pension schemes, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Bilaspur Nidhi Patel said.

During a meeting with bankers' committee on Friday, she said as compared to government banks, private banks are opening very few accounts under social security pension schemes of the central government, which was shocking and asked why private lenders were lagging in this field.

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Atal Pension Yojana are some of the important schemes of the central government.

She directed officials of ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and HDFC Bank to ensure opening of maximum number of accounts under the major social security pension schemes of the Centre, before the next quarterly meeting.

She said that the credit deposit (CD) ratio of private banks increased from 25.49 per cent to 26.92 per cent in the last quarter.

Still at a low level, this CD ratio means that private banks are giving less loans to people and due to this, the pace of development in the district suffers. Patel instructed the officials concerned to increase their CD ratio and give maximum loans to people.

The ADC also instructed the officials to provide maximum loans in the agricultural sector and expressed concern over less loans given by SBI in the sector.

She directed officials of the industry department and all the banks to organize as many awareness camps as possible in rural and urban areas regarding central and state schemes.

She informed the attendees that during Rabi season 2022-23, as many as 13,444 farmers of Bilaspur were given benefits under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, whereas during Kharif season, 14,405 farmers received benefits.