The West Bengal Government has made market borrowings to the tune of ₹82,000 crore since it came to power in 2011, State Finance Minister Amit Mitra said here on Friday.

Of this borrowed amount, a majority of ₹76,000 crore has been used up for repayments and interest payouts.

‘Legacy of previous govt’

“It’s (the debt burden) a legacy of the erstwhile government that we have to deal with,” Mitra said during the FICCI Banking Conclave here in the city.

Last year, West Bengal made an interest payout and loan repayment to the tune of ₹28,000 crore. The State has a loan burden of over ₹274,000 crore.

According to the State Finance Minister, banks in the State have fared below expectations in terms of performance.

Compared to lending targets set for the agriculture sector in FY15, banks have achieved only 59 per cent of it (or disbursed some 59 per cent of the target amount). In the priority sector lending, banks achieved some 73 per cent of their targets.

The CD ratio (cash-deposit ratio) for West Bengal stands at 67.52 per cent; lower than the national average of 79 per cent.

“Priority sector lending has to pick up. Even the CD ratio has to be brought at par with the national average,” he said. Even in terms of disbursals of loans (by banks) against the Kishan Credit Cards West Bengal was placed below the national average.

While the national average was ₹78,000; the corresponding figures (disbursals) in the State stood at ₹61,000.

Banking penetration

When the Trinamool Congress came to power in 2011, some 900-odd gram panchayats (out of over 3,000) were not covered by the banks. At present, 760-odd gram panchayats are yet to be covered.

Urging banks to set up operations in these un-banked areas, Mitra said the State government will facilitate them to set up branches (in these un-banked areas) by providing them with space at a nominal rent of ₹1; for an area varying between 50 sq ft and 400 sq ft.

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