Maharashtra launched ‘state annual priority sector credit plan’ worth Rs 4,60,881 crore along with an ‘overall annual credit plan’ worth 18,10,779 crore.

Highlights

=> It was launched during quarterly State Level Bankers Committee (SBLC) meeting of Maharashtra.

=> State government has set annual credit lending target of Rs 1.19 lakh crore for agriculture sector by banks for financial year 2021-2022.

=> Out of this, Rs 60,860 crore was set for crop loans during kharif and rabi seasons.

=> Banks have also disbursed crop loans worth Rs 47,972 crores for this financial year.

=> Government asked banks in state to continue more finance under crop loan disbursement for kharif 2021 season and to achieve season targets by end of June 2021.

=> Banks have also been advised to improve credit disbursal under agriculture sector and support all government-sponsored schemes & SHGs.

Priority Sector Lending

Priority Sector Lending is decided as per RBI guidelines. Under it, RBI mandates banks to lend certain amount from their funds to specified sectors such as agriculture; Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs); education, export credit, renewable energy, housing and social infrastructure. All scheduled commercial banks and foreign banks are mandated to keep 40% of their Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANDC) to lend these sectors. Regional rural banks, co-operative banks and small finance banks can allocate 75% of ANDC. Lending is facilitated to ensure that, adequate institutional credit reaches vulnerable sectors of economy.

By: ASRAF UDDIN AHMED