Rano
VIP
Jalandhar, July 7
With the objective of freeing farmers from the clutches of moneylenders and private finance companies, which charge interest rates up to 48 per cent, the Punjab Government has urged the Union Government to direct the public sector banks to increase the lending to farm sector to 70 per cent.
At present, only 29 per cent loans are advanced to the farm sector by the banks whereas 54 per cent loans are advanced by moneylenders, commission agents and others.
Raising the issue with Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at Chandigarh yesterday, state Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said there was a need to bring the farmers in banking sector to free them from the moneylenders and others.
The state has urged to raise the funds earmarked for banks for debt swapping to 20 per cent from the existing 3 per cent.
Raising the issue of credit-deposit (CD) ratio, Manpreet Badal told Mukherjee that the CD ratio was highly skewed in case of Punjab because money collected from the state as deposits was not invested in the state. He said, for instance, against the Rs 100 collected, only Rs 63 were invested in the state whereas in Andhra Pradesh, banks have been investing Rs 140 against the Rs 100 collected in the state.
He said by funding the micro industrial units, the banks could improve the CD ratio in a big way. He has urged the Union Finance Minister to enforce RBI instructions strictly in case of public sector banks to advance loans to micro industrial sector in the state. He pointed out that the banks in the state had been asking for big guarantees to advance loan to small industries.
Naveen Garewal adds from Chandigarh: Meanwhile, the Punjab Government has expressed displeasure to the Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at the drastic reduction in share (read pay back) of taxes and duties collected by the Union Government from Punjab. Taking up a case alleging “discrimination” by the 13th Finance Commission, state Finance Minister Manpreet Badal demanded that the Centre should pick up at least 50 per cent of the expenditure on account of implementation of the Pay Commission recommendations.
Though the finance ministers’ conference held here yesterday was out of bounds for all, except the participants, sources in the Punjab Government said that the finance minister was quite vocal when it came to seeking more funds for the state. He reportedly told the central minister that the centre should provide Rs 12,743 crore as 90 per cent of the cost of maintenance, repair, deepening, widening and expansion of Water Resources Infrastructure in the State.
He said the 13th Finance Commission’s marginal increase in States’ share in Central taxes to 32 per cent from 30.5 per cent was welcome, but it was still highly inadequate and certainly not commensurate with the responsibilities and development needs of the State.
Presenting a case for higher financial help from the Centre, Manpreet Badal attributed high revenue deficit to high expenditure on salaries, pensions and servicing of debt.
With the objective of freeing farmers from the clutches of moneylenders and private finance companies, which charge interest rates up to 48 per cent, the Punjab Government has urged the Union Government to direct the public sector banks to increase the lending to farm sector to 70 per cent.
At present, only 29 per cent loans are advanced to the farm sector by the banks whereas 54 per cent loans are advanced by moneylenders, commission agents and others.
Raising the issue with Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at Chandigarh yesterday, state Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said there was a need to bring the farmers in banking sector to free them from the moneylenders and others.
The state has urged to raise the funds earmarked for banks for debt swapping to 20 per cent from the existing 3 per cent.
Raising the issue of credit-deposit (CD) ratio, Manpreet Badal told Mukherjee that the CD ratio was highly skewed in case of Punjab because money collected from the state as deposits was not invested in the state. He said, for instance, against the Rs 100 collected, only Rs 63 were invested in the state whereas in Andhra Pradesh, banks have been investing Rs 140 against the Rs 100 collected in the state.
He said by funding the micro industrial units, the banks could improve the CD ratio in a big way. He has urged the Union Finance Minister to enforce RBI instructions strictly in case of public sector banks to advance loans to micro industrial sector in the state. He pointed out that the banks in the state had been asking for big guarantees to advance loan to small industries.
Naveen Garewal adds from Chandigarh: Meanwhile, the Punjab Government has expressed displeasure to the Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at the drastic reduction in share (read pay back) of taxes and duties collected by the Union Government from Punjab. Taking up a case alleging “discrimination” by the 13th Finance Commission, state Finance Minister Manpreet Badal demanded that the Centre should pick up at least 50 per cent of the expenditure on account of implementation of the Pay Commission recommendations.
Though the finance ministers’ conference held here yesterday was out of bounds for all, except the participants, sources in the Punjab Government said that the finance minister was quite vocal when it came to seeking more funds for the state. He reportedly told the central minister that the centre should provide Rs 12,743 crore as 90 per cent of the cost of maintenance, repair, deepening, widening and expansion of Water Resources Infrastructure in the State.
He said the 13th Finance Commission’s marginal increase in States’ share in Central taxes to 32 per cent from 30.5 per cent was welcome, but it was still highly inadequate and certainly not commensurate with the responsibilities and development needs of the State.
Presenting a case for higher financial help from the Centre, Manpreet Badal attributed high revenue deficit to high expenditure on salaries, pensions and servicing of debt.
