Bihar asks banks to increase annual credit plan

Bihar government on Monday asked the commercial banks to increase annual credit plan target from Rs 8738.13 crore during 2006-07 to Rs 13,000 crore for the current fiscal and work 'tirelessly' to achieve the national average of the credit deposit ratio (CDR). Talking to reporters after attending the meeting of the state-level bankers' committee, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, who holds finance portfolio, said the annual credit plan achievement of commercial banks in Bihar was 87.37 per cent more than last year's around Rs 2700 crore. "But considering the low credit deposit ratio, an ambitious target is required to be set and this year's target should be more than Rs 13,000 crore," Modi said. He told the meeting that lead banks should prepare list of non-performing branches every quarter and block level banking committees, district level banking committees and state-level banking committees should monitor it every quarter. At least one mega credit camp in every district in every quarter must be organised, Modi said. Quoting an RBI report, he said Bihar has one bank branch with an average population of 22,248 whereas the national average was 15,000. For Punjab it was an average population of 9,000, Maharashtra 11,000 and West Bengal 14,000. Modi said the state needed 2276 new bank branches, including regional rural banks, to reach the national average and by vigorous efforts for credit expansion in rural areas new branches would be viable too.