Angul: Even as the 2015-16 fiscal is drawing to an end, banks in Angul are not sanctioning loans according to guidelines laid down by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with over Rs 100 crore lying idle in various banks.
Banks have a crucial role to play in ushering growth and development, and have collected huge sums as deposits in the district but have overlooked the RBI guidelines of sanctioning 60 per cent of their deposits as loans.
Sources said in this current fiscal, various banks operating in the district have sanctioned only 40 per cent as loans to all beneficiaries. According to available reports, a total of 162 branches of various banks are operating in the district. While the target was Rs 15.24 crore for the 2014-15 fiscal, the banks have disbursed only Rs 11.24 crore as loans in various sectors.
Similarly, in the current fiscal, the loan target was Rs 17.22 crore while only Rs 16.17 crore was sanctioned with over Rs 100 crore lying idle in various banks. Despite 74 per cent of the annual loan being sanctioned, a sector-wise analysis throws up disappointing results.
The biggest defaulter is State Bank of India (SBI), which has collected Rs 2,200 crore as deposits but has sanctioned only Rs 750 crore as loans – a mere 33 per cent of its deposits. These banks have sanctioned loans primarily to industries and businesses while overlooking agriculture, sources said.
While Rs 1,060 crore was to be sanctioned under agricultural loans, but only Rs 936 crore has been sanctioned. A sum of Rs 136 crore was earmarked for housing loans but only Rs 35.85 crore was sanctioned, just 26 per cent of the target.
Similarly, Rs 30 crore was earmarked as loans for 2,500 self-help groups (SHG) but only Rs 12.60 crore was sanctioned to 1,412 groups. While Rs 388 crore was earmarked as loans for industries only Rs 400 crore was sanctioned which is 103 percent.
While banks have earmarked Rs 32 crore as educational loans they have sanctioned Rs 8.17 crore as loans. Similarly, for small enterprises, banks have earmarked Rs 20 crore as loans but have sanctioned only Rs 47 crore.
UCO Bank has collected Rs 935 crore in deposits but has sanctioned Rs 582 crore as loans which is 62 per cent of its deposits.
Orissa Gramya Bank collected Rs 620 crore but gave away Rs 310 crore which is 50 per cent of the deposits. Various cooperative banks have collected Rs 500 crore as deposits and have given away Rs 343 crore which is 69 per cent of their deposits.
Lead bank manager Asit Chand admitted banks are not showing as much interest in sanctioning loans and are also disinterested in recovery of the loans for which the ratio between deposits collected and loans sanctioned is widening. He further said notices have been issued to the banks that are not abiding by the RBI guidelines. PNN
