THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Credit-deposit (CD) ratio of the banking system in the State reached a record high of 70.07 per cent as on December 31, 2006, according to data presented at a meeting of State Level Bankers' Committee here on Tuesday.

The total advances on that date came to Rs.60,097 crore, with the deposits in the banking system hovering at Rs.85,770 crore. The ratio of credit and investment to deposit, or (C+I)D ratio, as it is called in banking parlance, touched 72.91 per cent, indicating robust absorption of credit by the State's economy.

The priority sector absorbed 53.96 per cent of the total outstanding amount under the head of advances. In actual terms, priority sector advances came to Rs.32,426 crore. Commercial banks have disbursed 11,28,692 kissan credit cards since the inception of this card scheme in the State, according to the data furnished at the SLBC meeting. The meeting, chaired by Canara Bank's executive director Alok K. Misra, directed the banks to bring all households in the State under the ambit of banking to free them from the clutches of private moneylenders.

Financial inclusion

The banks, at the meeting, decided to work for `100 per cent financial inclusion' in the State by June 2007, with every household having a bank account.

During the first nine months of 2006-07, the banks disbursed Rs.19,580 crore to priority sector in the State, achieving 80.61 per cent of a target of Rs.24,290 crore fixed for the financial year. Of this amount, Rs.8,512 crore went to agriculture sector, Rs.2,449 crore to the small industries sector and Rs.8,619 crore to the other priority areas.

Agricultural Production Commissioner K. Jayakumar, Kudumbasree executive director Sharada Muralidharan, Rural Development commissioner A. Ajith Kumar, Reserve Bank of India general manager Parvathy V. Sundaram, chief general manager of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Bhawar Puri, Canara Bank general managers M. Akshaya Kumar and P. Mohanan and Canara Bank deputy general manager A. Melchis addressed the SLBC meeting.

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