press trust of india
Kolkata, Jan 30: To deepen the credit culture among the farming community of the country, its largest lender State Bank of India will provide credit cards to the farmers through its subsidiary SBI Cards and Payments Services, its chairman Rajnish Kumar said Tuesday.
He said the project had been taken up on a pilot basis in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, and then would be launched across the country depending on its success. Unlike the Kisan Credit Card (KCC), the SBI card would provide 40 days credit to the farmers and the rate of interest charged would be normal as other SBI cards, Kumar said. The big difference was that the penalties charged in case of non-payment of due would be comparatively lower than the normal SBI cards, he told reporters at a launch event here. He said the farmers would be allowed to spend 20 per cent of the credit limit on consumer items and the balance only on buying agricultural inputs. Kumar said that in the case of KCC any loan taken taken by the farmer would be instantly debited from the account, where SBI cards would provide 40 days credit. Launching the Poorti FarmCart and DealerBandhu apps here today, he said e-commerce should be widely used in the agriculture sector. SBI would provide the payment gateway for making purchases through the apps, he added.
Rs5.26 crore SME loans sanctioned
Bhubaneswar: State Bank of India (SBI) handed over loan sanction letters to 113 small and medium enterprises beneficiaries for a total of Rs5.26 crore at its head office here, Tuesday.
SBI chief general manager BVG Reddy said the loan beneficiaries included 101 under the MUDRA scheme totalling Rs2.26 crore. The MUDRA loans included 74 for purchase of autorickshaws and six eDFS loans (3 PMEGP loans amount to Rs0.16 crore and three bank regular scheme loans amounts to Rs1.04 crore) totalling Rs1.80 crore.
Principal secretary (finance) Tuhin Kanta Pandey appreciated the bank for its efforts to promote lending under the MUDRA scheme and other advancements that directly or indirectly strengthen individuals and generates employment.
As of September 2017 the bank had sanctioned Rs387.26 to 14,070 accounts, of which the bank has disbursed Rs385.87 crore.
According to the State Level Bankers’ Committee, the bank has disbursed Rs17.24 crore to 5,416 accounts under the Sishu category, Rs166.97 crore to 6,175 accounts under the Kishore category and Rs201.66 crore under the Tarun category to 2,479 beneficiaries.
Reddy said the bank expects to surpass the target set for MUDRA lending. MUDRA loans disbursed in the state as of September 2017 was Rs4,752.04 crore to 16,70,037 accounts. Of this, public sector banks cumulatively disbursed Rs1,181.49 crore to 60,640 accounts.PNN
