Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has requested the State-Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) to provide loans amounting to ₹1,87,550 crore to the priority sector and ₹64,050 crore to the non-priority sectors in the financial year 2020-21 as targeted (total ₹2,51,600 crore).
The loans required by the agriculture and MSME sectors have been pegged at ₹1,28,660 crore and ₹39,600 crore respectively.
Participating in the 212th SLBC meeting at his camp office on Friday, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy sought adequate financial support from the banks to the agriculture sector and welfare schemes.
He stated that the farm sector was the backbone of the economy on which 62% of the population was dependent for their livelihood and that the banks should fulfil their mandate by giving loans and supporting the farmers through other means.
He stressed the need for banks to help in the implementation of YSR Rythu Bharosa and PM Kisan, and pointed out that crop loans provided during 2020-21 kharif season were ₹3,000 crore less than the loans given in the corresponding period last year. In this regard, the banks should get their act together, the Chief Minister suggested.
Price stabilisation fund
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said the government created a price stabilisation fund of ₹3,500 crore for procuring various agricultural commodities when the prices plummet due to vagaries of the market.
He requested the banks to support the cold storage network and establishment of Janata Bazaars.
The Chief Minister asked the banks to help in augmenting the infrastructure in government hospitals and schools under the Nadu-Nedu programme. A major step towards improving the healthcare sector was the setting up of 16 new teaching hospitals. Besides, village clinics were planned to be set up to take healthcare services to the people's doorstep. The government contemplated to spend ₹13,000 crore on the health sector in the coming three years.
The banks should also facilitate the implementation of ‘Jagananna Thodu’ which is scheduled to be launched in November. Interest-free loans were planned to be extended to petty businessmen under that scheme.
Also, the Chief Minister requested the banks' support for the revival of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises which were badly hit by COVID, and to extend a helping hand to self-help groups.
Ministers Mekapati Goutham Reddy and K. Kannababu, Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney, SLBC president G. Raj Kiran Rai and convener V. Brahmananda Reddy and others took part in the deliberations.
