Leading banks select 9 K'taka dists for 100 pc financial inclusion

Bangalore, Dec 14 (UNI) State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) Chairman C P Swarnkar today said leading banks in Karnataka have selected nine districts for 100 per cent financial inclusion by March, 2007.

Speaking at the 100th SLBC meeting here, he said Syndicate Bank and Canara Bank have also adopted 602 and 369 villages respectively for 100 per cent financial inclusion through their rural and semi-urban branches in the State.

The banks have opened 4,99,370 No-Frill accounts and issued 6,458 General Purpose Credit Cards with a credit limit of Rs 12.84 crore, he said.

Reviewing the performance of banks in providing the required financial support to the farm sector during the first seven months of the current fiscal, Mr Swarnkar said the banks have disbursed Rs 7,915.51 crore as against the annual target of Rs 14,645.99 crore, accounting for 54.05 per cent achievement.

He said the banks have extended Rs 43,679 crore to various segments of the society under priority sector as of September 2006, which constituted 46.42 per cent of the total advances, thereby exceeding the stipulated norm of 40 per cent.

Karnataka was one of the first few States to set up SLBC in 1976 to sort out coordination problems at different levels to render credit support to Government-sponsored schemes and development activities.

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