Hamstrung banking services and poor lending performance discussed

NORTH DISTRICT CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE TAKES STOCK OF DEVELOPMENTAL ACTIVITIES
GANGTOK, 27 April: The District Consultative Committee meeting for North Sikkim was held at Mangan on 24 April. An official press release informs that during the meeting chaired by DC North, TN Kazi, all the banking and developmental activities of the district were reviewed for the quarter ended 31 December, 2011.
During the deliberations the DC informed the house about the connectivity problem being faced at Chungthang due to which State Bank of India’s Chungthang branch was not being able to provide satisfactory sevices to its customers. The DC suggested that SBI consider installing a V-SAT at Chungthang so that all the customers could enjoy uninteruppted service. He also put forward the idea of SBI extending “non-home transactions” immediately till an alternative arrangement is made by them at the branch.
The LDM, SBI, noted his suggestions and assured to take it up with his controlling office. The DC also expressed the need to have an SBI ATM installed at Mangan which continues to have an incongruous situation where the bank was issuing ATM-cum-Debit cards to customers here but had no ATM of the bank at Mangan or anywhere else in North Sikkim.
The release further mentions that on the Credit-Deposit Ratio (CDR) in the district, the AGM, RBI, Anil Kumar Yadav, expressed concern over the poor offtake of credit in the district. He informed the house that the C-D Ratio in the district was just 47.8 as on December 31, 2011. He urged the bankers to explore viable ventures in the district to lend and added that the Line Departments such as Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, SRDA etc can play a constructive role in identifying the beneficaries.
He also requested the DC, North to ensure healthy attendance of Line Departments in all DCC meetings as it would lead to fruitful deliberations and pave the way for the economic development of the district. Mr Yadav also exhorted the bankers to extend credit to agriculture, dairy and other allied sectors in the district which have huge potential in the district, which would increase the CD ratio in North Sikkim, the release adds.
The meeting also deliberated upon other agenda items pertaining to PMEGP, SGSY, SJSRY, KCC etc. Joint Director of  Animal Husbandry department apprised the house about the potential of milk production in the district and urged the bankers to finance this sector.
The DCC meetings are held on a quarterly basis in each district of the State to review the achievement of the Annual Credit Plan (ACP) targets by different banks located in each distict. District Collector is the Chairman of these meetings and the Lead Banks convene the DCC meetings with representatives from RBI, NABARD, SRDA, DIC, SKVIB, KVIC and other line departments of the State Government as members. In North Sikkim at present there are 6 branches of SBI at Mangan, Chungthang, Phodong, Kabi, Lachung and Dikchu and one branch each of Union Bank of India and Sikkim State Co-operative Bank (SISCO Bank) at Mangan.