The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Centre committed to increasing loan to farmers: Chidambaram

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 19, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Others

Centre committed to increasing loan to farmers: Chidambaram

Staff Reporter

'UPA Government has urged banks to extend loan facilities to needy people'

NEW BEGINNING: The Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, giving away loan to a beneficiary at Kandanur in Sivaganga district on Sunday.

KARAIKUDI: Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Sunday said the Centre was committed to increasing the loan assistance for agriculture-related activities by 30 per cent every year to accelerate the growth of the sector.

Inaugurating the Canara Bank branch at Kandanur here, he said different Union Governments in the past stressed the importance of increasing loan facilities to all sections of society. But it was the United Progressive Alliance Government, which urged banks to make use of all their resources to increase the loan assistance to needy people including small-scale industrialists and eligible students aspiring for higher studies.

Lauding the services of Canara Bank in nation building, Mr. Chidambaram said the bank was the sixth largest in the country. The branch at Kandanur, his hometown, attracted Rs. 1.05 crores as deposit on the first day. He hoped it would touch more than Rs. 5 crores soon.

M.B.N. Rao, Chairman and Managing Director, Canara Bank, presided.

Repco Bank's plea

At the inauguration of Repco Bank at Shanmugha Raja Road, Mr. Chidambaram said the Central Government would consider the bank authorities' plea to transform the bank into a full-fledged one. "The Central Government is ready to increase its share capital. But, at the same time, all southern States, including Tamil Nadu, which also shared the initial investment should increase their share capital according to their proportion."

He complimented the bank's objective to increase its business to Rs. 2,500 crores within three years. He also hailed its approach of collecting deposits and loan from its customers on a daily basis.

M. Balasubramanian, Managing Director, Repco Bank, said the bank had deposits of Rs. 630 crores and advances Rs. 485 crores.

In another function at Sekkalai road, the Minister declared open the 1,971st branch of Allahabad Bank. Mr. Chidambaram said each and every branch of the bank should advance at least 100 new agriculturists every year, besides existing agriculturists. Allahabad Bank had advanced agricultural loans to 67,846 small and medium farmers. Similarly, the services of the bank in lending to self-help groups were also remarkable. It extended loan to 3,726 new SHG groups, besides 17,488 existing ones.

O.N. Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, Allahabad Bank, presided.

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