RAICHUR: The District Annual Credit Plan for 2007-08, released here on Tuesday by the State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), Raichur, has mentioned an outlay of Rs. 705.41 crore, which is an increase of 11 per cent from last year's outlay. Nearly 60 per cent of the plan amount has been set aside for the development of agriculture.

Under the Potential-linked Plan of the NABARD, the bank's credit flow for 2007-08 will be Rs. 705.41 crore, as against the projected outlay of Rs. 771.70 crore. There will be a shortfall of Rs. 66.29 crore, which will be met through subsidies, margin money and private investments.

Vice-president of the zilla panchayat Pamaiah Murari, who launched the credit plan, said that the development of villages in the district mainly depended on banking activities. However, the banks had not been able to extend their services to all villages. He said there was need to open many branches of nationalised banks in the villages so that credit facilities could be extended to farmers.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the zilla panchayat N. Manjunath Prasad, who was the chief guest, said that the credit amount provided in the plan for the farm sector was less by Rs. 72 crore as compared to the amount allocated in last year's plan. He urged banks to give a higher priority to the sector, as this would contribute to an integrated development of agriculture in the district.

Mr. Prasad said that banks should make sincere efforts to extend banking facilities to all families in the villages, by opening a savings account for each one. At present, only some families were being covered, he said.

He said there was a need to increase the number of banks in the villages, so that banking benefits could be extended to the farmers.

Otherwise, the farmers would be forced to take private loans at higher rates of interest for their agricultural activities, he said.

Mr. Prasad urged banks to evolve detailed plans for extending extensive services to people in the villages. He suggested that officials of the Agriculture Department and the Horticulture Department provide guidelines to farmers with regard to the use of seeds and cultivation methods, as the lack of quality seeds and faulty methods of cultivation had led to the failure of large areas of crops in the district.

Deputy General Manager, SBH, Hyderabad, S.V. Raghavendra Rao; General Manager of NABARD, Bangalore, B.T. Kudu Somannavar; and Assistant General Manager of NABARD, Raichur, D.S. Velu spoke.

Assistant General Manager of SBH, Raichur, K. Krishna Rao; and Lead District Manager of SBH Jagannath Das were present.

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