Bhubaneswar: Odisha Government has recently directed all commercial banks functioning in Odisha to improve their credit-deposit (CD) ratio and open branches in the unbanked rural areas of the State on priority basis.
Principal Secretary, Finance, Vishal Dev has asked the Bankers during the recently held State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) meeting.
Acknowledging the critical challenge of Financial Inclusion, which remains a priority agenda of the Government, Shri Dev highlighted the pressing issue of low banking penetration in the State.
Out of the 6,798 Gram Panchayats (GPs), a mere 2,844 GPs are currently covered by 5,774 Brick & Mortar branches. In light of this, Arukha had emphasized the urgent need for all controlling heads of the banks to establish brick and mortar branches in these unbanked GPs within a specified timeframe.
Furthermore, the Principal Secretary Finance advised banks to enhance their performance in priority sector lending to become eligible for the prestigious award bestowed by the Chief Minister.
He had also emphasized the paramount importance of nurturing creativity to expedite economic growth and foster an improved credit flow within the State.
As on March 31, 2023, the CD ratio of all banks, taking into account total utilization (which includes loans sanctioned outside the state but utilized in Odisha), was 80.77%.
All districts have a CD ratio above 40%. However, there are two districts with a CD ratio below 60%, namely Mayurbhanj (55.27%) and Jagatsinghpur (49.90%).
The leader banks in Jagatsinghpur and Mayurbhanj districts have been directed to investigate the reasons behind the low CD ratio. The CD ratio in Jagatsinghpur was affected by the bulk deposit from Paradeep port.
The CD ratio of Mayurbhanj District was declining due to the low CD ratio of UCO Bank, SBI, and PNB. The Development Commissioner asked these three banks to enhance their performance in the current financial year
Principal Secretary Finance advised the banks with a low credit-deposit (CD) ratio to focus on improving their performance during the current fiscal year. Additionally, he highlighted that persistently low performance can adversely affect a bank’s chances of acquiring SNA accounts.
As on March 31, 2023, the total banking network in Odisha has expanded to 62,324 from 30,195 by FY 2021-22. The total B&M branches were 5,774. The ATM network in Odisha reached 7,627 as of March 31, 2023, with an increase of 166 ATMs over March 2022.
The Principal Secretary, Finance directed IndusInd Bank and RBL Bank to accurately report the number of Business Correspondents (BCs) in both the IBA portal and SLBC portal. There are 8,069 facility access points available as on March 31, 2023 through its 33 branches.
