From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Jul 28: Branches of all nationalized banks as well as local banks in Karnataka must conduct their day-to-day business in the State’s official language of Kannada so as to help the people and the large section of uneducated masses, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in Bangalore on Saturday.
Addressing the 124th State-Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) meeting, he said the banks were not practising the compulsory three-language policy while preparing challans, pass books, loan applications, account opening forms, fixed deposit certificates etc and it posed a serious problem to the people, especially in rural areas.
The facilities provided by nationalised banks and local banks were not reaching the rural masses on account of the language problem.
“It is the desire of our government to encourage use of Kannada in the day-to-day banking activities,” he said emphasizing that employment opportunities must be expanded for persons knowing Kannada.
The Chief Minister directed officials to circulate a note prepared by Kannada Development Authority Chairman Mukhyamantri Chandru to bankers, who participated in the meeting, and asked the SLBC to take steps to accord primacy to the State’s official language in their banking transactions.
The government was committed to give emphasis on protecting and encouraging the art, culture and rich heritage of the State.
As Kannada is the administrative language in Karnataka, the government wished to take firm steps for implementing Kannada in all official activities, Siddaramaiah said.
The Chief Minister said lending by commercial banks to education, housing and self-help groups was significantly lower in the State than in neighbouring states such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
Credit flow by banks in the State to the education sector was Rs 4263 crore which is very low compared to Tamil Nadu at Rs 11,894 crore, Kerala - Rs 7,201 core and Andhra Pradesh – Rs 5,446 crore during 2012-13.
Even in terms of number of educational loans given by banks, the figure was low compared to neighbouring states, he said.
A target has been set to disburse education loans amounting Rs 5116 crore by March 2014 and hoped that the target would be met, he said.
“As human capital development is essential factor for sustainable growth, I look forward to speedy implementation of education loan schemes,” the chief Minister said.
Noting that the State is cradle for birth of five public sector banks and two private sector banks, he said the State had a very good network of 8430 bank branches.
However, this coverage has not resulted in increased flow of credit, which was a matter of serious concern, he said.
While Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have maintained credit - deposit (CD) ratio in the range of 117 to 120 per cent, the State banks’ CD ratio was just about 75 per cent, Siddaramaiah said.
He asked the SLBC to look into the issue of low CD in the State and formulate strategies to improve the credit outflow, which would stimulate economic growth.
Referring to issues in the farm sector, the chief Minister said the progress in issuing of Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) was also very low with only 7.98 lakh cards issued in 2012-13 as against the target of 11 lakh cards.
“This impedes the progress of deepening the credit line and credit availability for the farmers,” he said.
The number of transactions under the electronic benefit transfer (EBT) scheme was not encouraging in seven districts. About 12 lakh beneficiaries have been enrolled.
The State’s annual credit plan for 2013-14 under priority sector advances has been increased to Rs 73,362 crore as against the achievement of Rs 60,559 crore in the previous fiscal.
Kumar Jain, Chairman of SLBC and CMD, Syndicate Bank, S V Ranganath, Chief Secretary, G R Chintala, Chief General, NABARD, Bangalore, and officials of other banks attended the meeting.