Expedite the disbursement of loans for state govt-run schemes, Amit Mitra urges banks

Kolkata: Amit Mitra, Principal Chief Advisor to Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Finance department on Monday urged the bankers to speed up the disbursement of loans under various state schemes mostly the Bhabishyat Credit Card (BCC) project where the pendency is on the higher side. Mitra chaired the State Level Bankers Committee Meeting) to take stock of the bank lending and disbursement under various schemes.

According to Nabanna sources, in the BCC scheme, out of 1.70 lakh applications, 32,000 have been sanctioned with the pendency being around 90,000. There have been 50,000 rejections too.

The scheme for young entrepreneurs in the age group 18-55 years offers subsidy-linked and collateral-free loans for setting up new ventures/ projects/ micro enterprises in manufacturing, service and business / trading/ agro-based activities. Eligible applicants can take a business loan of up to Rs 5 lakh to start a business. Seed money of up to Rs 25,000 is provided by the government.

The applications were received from April 1, 2023. In the Student Credit Card Scheme, the total number of sanctions has been 80,894 and disbursal has been made for 57,800 beneficiaries with the total amount disbursed being Rs 2882 crore. It is learnt that Mitra has asked the bankers to release the pending funds under the Kisan Credit Card and Matsyajibi (Fisherman) Credit Card. 200 bank branches were identified as having huge pendency and were asked to do the needful.

Mitra expressed satisfaction with bank lending for the MSME units across the state in the 2024-25 financial year.

The state government has set a target of Rs 1.53 lakh crore lending by the banks out of which over 77 per cent has already been achieved.

Bank lending in MSME takes place in various sectors which include agriculture, agri-allied sectors, fisheries, animal resources development, self-help groups, food processing industries, horticulture etc.

State Finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharjee and senior officials from all departments associated with banking operations were present

at the meeting.