The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to establish its branch here to ensure better monitoring and supervision of banking sector in Tripura, official sources said here on Saturday.
Agartala will be the second state capital in the North-east to have a RBI branch after Guwahati, RBI, Executive Director Mr Deepak Kumar Mohanty said. The branch would be opened by May this year, he said.
The Credit Deposit Ratio (CDR) in the Northeast, he said, was lower than the national average due to limited economic activity.
“There are no industries in the region and there is little scope for big investment in agriculture sector also, so the limited economic activity is coming on the way of maintaining an equilibrium in the credit deposit ratio”, he pointed out.
Mr Mohanty, who attended a Financial Outreach Programme organised by RBI in South Tripura district yesterday said, big credit penetration would be required to increase the CDR in the region.
While the CDR is 74 percent in the national level, in the northeast it stands at only 33-34 percent, he said adding RBI had taken a serious note of the low percentage of CDR in the North-East.
“Every village having population of 2000 will have bank branch in the Northeast by next fiscal year (2011-12) to increase the bank population in rural areas”, he said adding that banking facility would be available in potential non-bank hamlets.