Hyderabad: Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Wickremarka on Monday asked bankers to make long-term plans for Telangana, which is expected to witness massive development and welfare programs under the motto Telangana Rising in the coming days.
In a meeting with the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) at Praja Bhavan, Bhatti said the country will look at Telangana as a wonder because of the government’s development agenda. The government has taken the Musi river revitalization program as a prestigious project. There are big constructions going on for skills, sports universities and pharma companies.β
Bhatti said that the bankers should make a long-term plan in line with the motto of Telangana Rising. He said that permission has been obtained for the construction of Regional Ring Road (RRR) and tenders will be invited soon.
He asked the bankers to speed up the disbursement of agricultural loans. If the farmers are not given loans on time, they will not get any benefit.
βThe target for the 2024 Kharif season was `54,480 crore, but only `44,438 crore was released after meeting 81.57 percent of the target. As there is still one month left for the loan of the Rabi season, it should be speeded up,’ he said.
SBI General Manager Prakash Chandra Baror, SLBC Convenor said the banks have covered 174.71 lakh customers under PM Suraksha Bima Yojana and 78.61 lakh customers under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana. He said that 20.55 lakh subscribers had subscribed to the Atal Pension Scheme.
Bhatti mentioned that bankers are the backbone for the economic development of any state and praised the bankers for playing an important role in economic growth.
Bhatti also said that although bank repayments have increased, loan approval has decreased. “The state government credited banks with `21,000 crore over a period of two months under the loan waiver scheme for farmers. Nowhere in the history of bankers has a state government taken such a decision,” he pointed out.
With the aim of encouraging women to become entrepreneurs, the state government has been giving interest-free loans of Rs 20,000 crore every year, and the government’s goal is to make one crore women millionaires in the next five years.
The government has entered into an MoU with the Self Help Groups (SHGs) for the production of 1000 MW of solar power, while the government has set a target of producing 4000 MW of solar power. He said, ‘Green energy production is being given importance throughout the country, keeping that in mind, bankers should provide capital for green energy.