Bankers in Dakshina Kannada district have been asked to focus on extending educational loans for the needy during the year, and to increase the credit-deposit ratio from the current 57 per cent to 60 per cent.
Participating in the district consultative meeting for the banking development of Dakshina Kannada district organised by the lead bank of the district, Syndicate Bank, here on Thursday, Mr U. T. Khader, Mangalore MLA, wanted to know the criteria for extending educational loans. He said many people have approached him stating that their applications have been rejected.
Answering his queries, Mr J. S. Shenoy, Deputy General Manager of Syndicate Bank, said banks give utmost priority for extending educational loans. There could be rejections in a few cases. Proper steps will be initiated to tackle such cases to extend loans to the needy, he said.
Mr M.S. Hasan, Lead District Officer from Reserve Bank of India, said bankers should not insist for collaterals for loans up to Rs 4 lakh. This should be kept in mind while extending educational loans, he said.
Mr Khader said a person representing these banks should address such grievances in future. For this, Mr Shenoy said such grievances could be addressed to the Lead Bank Manager, Mr Hemantha Bhide, for future action.
CD RATIO
Mr Hasan took the bankers to the task for not reaching the 60 per cent mark in their credit-deposit ratio. Though some banks have a good number of braches in the district, their CD ratio is very poor. This needs to be improved, he said.
Mr Bhide said rural branches of all the banks have recorded a CD ratio of 75 per cent, semi-urban branches, 53 per cent, and urban branches, 55 per cent. While rural branches are doing well in improving their CD ratio, urban and semi-urban branches will have to further improve their CD ratio, he added.