Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) is observing July-September as ‘kisan months’, according to M. Narendra, Chairman and Managing Director, IOB.
Addressing presspersons here, Narendra said that the bank will disburse around Rs 1,200 crore of crop loans by September-end; since July, the bank has disbursed around Rs 600 crore.
The agricultural lending of the bank stood at Rs 19,932 crore at the end of March 2012. The bank wants to take this to Rs 26,000 crore by the end of this financial year, he said.
To encourage priority sector lending, particularly to the agriculture sector, the bank is planning to open 40 special agriculture credit branches. Of them, 10 branches in Karnataka and five in Maharashtra will be opened by September-end.
These branches will be equipped with agricultural officers, who process and appraise the loan proposals of nearby branches also, he said.
The bank has introduced some agricultural loan products to meet the specific needs of identified segments.
He said that ‘IOB Sagarlakshmi’ is designed for financing fisherwomen. Under this, loans up to Rs 1 lakh are granted.
‘IOB Bhoomi Shakti’ provides financial assistance to women having farmland in their name. The scheme provides interest concession of 0.50 percentage points for limits up to Rs 50,000 and 0.25 percentage points for limits above Rs 50,000, he said.
Narendra said that ‘IOB Urban Horticulture’ is meant for individuals and institutions for raising kitchen garden, flower garden, small orchards or roof gardens. Margin and collateral security are waived for loans up to Rs 1 lakh under this, he said.