The 178th State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) meeting, co-chaired by Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary to the Government of Odisha, Smt. Anu Garg, and Executive Director of UCO Bank, Sri V.N. Kamble, emphasized the need for banks to achieve 100% of the Annual Credit Plan (ACP) target of ₹2.11 lakh crore for the fiscal year 2024-25.
In her address, Smt. Garg highlighted the importance of credit flow to sectors such as housing, education, and exports. She called upon banks to extend higher credit to improve the Credit to GSDP ratio and support the newly launched “Financial Assistance to Cold Storage” scheme, which aims to minimize post-harvest losses and prevent distress sales by farmers.
The meeting announced an ACP target of ₹2.52 lakh crore for FY 2025-26, based on projections by NABARD.
Sri V.N. Kamble commended the achievement of 68.95% of the ACP target by December 31 and urged banks to achieve the full ACP target for FY 2024-25. He also expressed concerns about the poor performance of bankers in the PM-Vishwakarma scheme and other issues in the housing sector.
Regional Director of RBI, Dr. S.P. Mohanty, highlighted high inflation and low credit growth in Odisha, while Principal Secretary, Finance Department, Sri Saswat Mishra, emphasized improving private sector bank performance in government-sponsored schemes and suggested forming a separate committee for housing and education sector credit flow.
Principal Secretary, Agriculture & FE Department, Dr. Arabinda Kumar Padhee, discussed the “Financing to Cold Storage” scheme and praised the efforts of bankers in supporting agri-entrepreneurs through the MKUY scheme.
Senior officials and representatives from various banks and government bodies attended the meeting.
