By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, NOV 11, 2024: UNION Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a meeting to review performance of 10 Regional Rural Banks of the Southern Region, covering the 5 states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana and UT of Puducherry, in Bengaluru, today.

Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary; Secretary, Department of Financial Services (DFS) M. Nagaraju; ED, RBI; Chairpersons of RRBs and sponsor banks; Additional Secretary, DFS, representatives of NABARD and SIDBI and other senior officers of participating states and UT were also present during the meeting.

The meeting, with 10 RRBs present, focused on business performance, upgrading digital technology services, and fostering business growth in activities allied to agriculture and micro and small industry. Given the crucial role of RRBs in supporting the rural economy, the Union Finance Minister urged RRBs to increase credit disbursement under various Government of India flagship schemes such as MUDRA, PM Vishwakarma, etc, with the active support of their sponsor banks.

Sitharaman directed RRBs to increase their share in ground level agriculture credit disbursement with special focus on allied agriculture activities like dairy, animal husbandry, fisheries etc, and to take necessary steps to realise the full potential of allied agriculture activities in the region. RRBs and sponsor banks were specially directed to work with respective state government departments to increase credit disbursement to fisheries sector in Kerala and dairying sector in Telangana.

Union Finance Minister acknowledged RRBs for the demonstrable improvement in their financial performance and technology upgradation ever since regular review was initiated in 2022. Consolidated CRAR of 17.6% and Gross Non-Performing Assets (GNPA) of 3.94% in FY 2024 are at healthy levels. RRBs in Southern Region have posted consolidated profit of Rs 3,816 crore during FY 2024 which is more than 50% of net consolidated profit of all RRBs combined.

During the review, the importance of enhancing the Current Account Savings Account (CASA) deposits was underlined, reinforcing the need for RRBs in southern region to mobilise CASA deposits to further accelerate the pace of sustainable credit growth.

Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, while outlining Prime Minister's vision of financial inclusion, urged banks to give maximum thrust to achievement under Financial Inclusion schemes of Government of India.

Sitharaman also noted the significant role played by RRBs in financial inclusion in Southern region and urged them to continue their efforts towards saturation under Financial Inclusion (FI) schemes of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti  Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Atal Pension Yojana (APY), etc. by achieving respective targets. The Finance Minister directed sponsor banks to rework the targets of FI schemes along with RRBs and further asked banks to launch special drive to operationalise inoperative accounts under PMJDY.

Specific emphasis was placed on reinforcing credit support to MSMEs and streamlining customer onboarding processes through digital innovations. SIDBI and RRBs were directed by the FM to collaborate on digital platforms, exploring co-lending/risk sharing models and refinance for MSME portfolio.

Union Finance Minister appreciated that the 10 RRBs have completed various technology upgradation of customer-centric digital services such as Micro-ATMs, call centres, net banking, Video KYC, RTGS, IMPS, etc. She urged RRBs to promote these services amongst their customers to increase their usage with help of respective sponsor banks.

Sitharaman also stated that all RRBs should devise a strategy for MSME credit with customised products aligning with cluster activities and conduct special outreach programmes with convergence and awareness regarding the various Government of India schemes. She said that the RRBs should explore to leverage digital platforms of SIDBI and seek MSME refinance from it.

The DFS was directed by the Union Finance Minister to look at the recruitment rules for RRBs and examine it to amend it suitably to ensure knowledge and proficiency of local language is present in the candidates.

The Union Finance Minister also urged State Governments to provide their views on proposal of amalgamation of RRBs on principle of ‘One State-One RRB'.