Uttarakhand News: Chief Minister Shri Pushkar Singh Dhami reviewed banking services, loan distribution, financial inclusion and various self-employment schemes in the 97th meeting of the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) at the Secretariat on Thursday. The Chief Minister said that the banking sector has an important role in the economic development of the state. He instructed banks to ease access to credit for common people, farmers, youth, women and entrepreneurs.
The Chief Minister asked to pay special attention to increasing the loan-deposit ratio in the state. Expressing displeasure over the low loan-deposit ratio in Bageshwar, Pauri, Almora, Rudraprayag, Pithoragarh and Tehri districts, he directed that camps should be organized regularly in these districts. The district administration, lead bank and concerned departments should together identify the eligible people and provide them timely loans. He said that work should be done with the aim of bringing the credit-deposit ratio of the state to the national average.
The Chief Minister said that no eligible person should face any problem in availing the benefits of public welfare schemes of the government. If there are any deficiencies in an application, instead of rejecting it only on technical grounds, the deficiencies should be removed by guiding the concerned person. He said that banks should play an active role in providing the benefits of the schemes to the eligible beneficiaries.
The Chief Minister said that about 96 percent achievement under the Annual Loan Scheme in the financial year 2025-26 and 111 percent achievement in the MSME sector is a sign of better economic progress of the state. The increase in the loan-deposit ratio of the state is also positive, but to further improve it, all the banks will have to make joint efforts.
The Chief Minister directed to provide loans on priority basis to the eligible people under schemes like Mukhyamantri Self-Employment Scheme-2.0, Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Self-Employment Scheme, Home-Stay Scheme, Pradhan Mantri Vishwakarma Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana and Kisan Credit Card. He also stressed on increasing banking cooperation to promote agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, fisheries, tourism and enterprises based on local products.
The Chief Minister said that it is necessary to take digital banking and digital payments to every village. He directed to further strengthen financial inclusion and extend the benefits of other schemes including Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana to as many people as possible.
The Chief Minister said that the banking sector has an important role in building a developed Uttarakhand. If the government and banks work together, employment, self-employment and entrepreneurship will get a new impetus and the overall development of the state will happen more rapidly.
In the meeting, Chief Secretary Shri Anand Bardhan said that for effective control on cyber crimes, representatives of State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB), ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank should also be added to the helpline number 1930, so that prompt action can be ensured in cases related to cyber fraud. The Chief Secretary said that before the meeting of the State Level Bankers Committee, regular meetings of the sub-committee should be organized, so that a detailed review on various topics can be done and timely resolution of the problems can be ensured. He asked banks to pay special attention to livelihood promotion and providing loans to the industrial sector. He said that employment generation and economic activities in the state should be given more impetus by increasing credit flow in self-employment, small scale industries, MSME and other productive sectors.
On this occasion, Principal Secretary Shri R.K Sudhanshu, Dr. R. Meenakshi Sundaram, Secretary Mr. Dilip Jawalkar, Mr. Nitesh Jha, Dr. B.V. R. C Purushottam, Shri Vinay Shankar Pandey, Shri S.N. Pandey, Mr. Shridhar Babu Addanki, Mr. Dhiraj Garbyal, Regional Director Reserve Bank of India Mr. Arvind Kumar, Chief General Manager Mr. Harsh Kumar Gautam, General Manager NABARD Mr. Pankaj Yadav, President Industries Association of Uttarakhand Mr. Pankaj Gupta, Chief General Manager State Bank of India New Delhi Mr. Prabhas Bose, General Manager Mr. Shailesh Kumar, Deputy General Manager SBI Dehradun Mr. Rajeev Ranjan, Deputy General Manager, SBI Haldwani Shri Rajiv Ranjan Ratan, Assistant General Manager, S.L.B.C. Uttarakhand Shri Shailendra Kumar Uniyal and others were present.