• 504 NEW BRANCHES OF BANKS HAVE BEEN OPENED IN PUNJAB FROM JANUARY TO DECEMBER 2014. NO BLOCK IN PUNJAB IS UNBANKED.
•  TOTAL DEPOSITS OF BANKS INCREASED BY ` 32099 CRORES SHOWING A GROWTH OF 14.45% FROM JANUARY TO DECEMBER 2014.
• TOTAL ADVANCES OF BANKS INCREASED BY ` 17103 CRORES SHOWING A GROWTH OF 11.88% FROM JANUARY TO DECEMBER 2014.

NewZNew (Chandigarh) : The 131^st meeting of State Level Bankers Committee, Punjab was convened by Punjab National Bank, the lead bank for the state of Punjab, at Chandigarh. Shri Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Hon’ble Finance Minister Punjab was the Chief Guest of the meeting. Shri Gauri Shanker, Managing Director and CEO, Punjab National Bank, presided over the meeting. Shri Jaspal Singh,IAS, Secretary (Revenue) Govt. of Punjab, Shri Parveen Kumar Thind,IAS, Director, Institutional Finance & Banking, Shri Gulab Singh,Deputy Secretary, Department of Financial Services, New Delhi, Shri Harpal Singh, Field General Manager & Convener SLBC Punjab, Shri Naresh Gupta, Chief General Manager, NABARD, Dr. Rakesh Gupta, General Manager, PNB, HO, New Delhi, Senior Officers of the State Government and Controlling Heads of the various Banks operating in the state of Punjab attended the meeting.

While delivering his Key note address Shri Gauri Shanker, MD & CEO, Punjab National Bank & Chairman SLBC meeting appraised the house of important initiatives taken by RBI and Deptt. of Financial Services, MOF, Govt. of India during intervening period between last and present meetings of SLBC which impacted the State economy in general and banking sector in particular.

Touching upon Financial Inclusion which has played a important role in achieving Inclusive Growth of our economy. Shri Shanker apprised that keeping this aspect in view, Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana a flagship programme of Govt. of India was announced by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India on 15^th August 2014 which includes “identifying the poor, creating unique biometric identifiers for them, opening linked bank accounts, and making government transfers into those accounts”. The scheme was launched in Punjab by Hon’ble Chief Minister at Ludhiana on 28.08.2014 who has taken keen interest for successful implementation of the programme.

Shri Shanker apprised the house that in order to cover 5476724 households in the State, a door to door survey was conducted by the Banks with the help of State Government In the survey, it was found that 4573705 households were already having bank accounts and 863524 households were to be covered.

With the active support and guidance of the State Govt, State has been declared as saturated on 08.12.2014 and to cover the entire households and to create awareness among the public for PMJDY Scheme, the banks in the State of Punjab organized 40481 camps. In these camps 2945090 accounts were opened covering the entire households in the State. Rupay cards have been issued in 1864888 accounts.

Shri Shanker on his behalf and all member banks conveyed thanks to the State Govt. for their active support and guidance for implementation of the Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana by which State has been declared as saturated.

Shri Shanker briefed the house that now the foremost task in implementation of PMJDY is appointment of Bank Mitras. He stress the need to educate usage of Rupay Card to the customers as it has been observed that large number of Rupay Cards although issued to the customers, is yet to be activated by banks and have not been used even once by the customer. He desired that immediately on issuing a card to customer, it should be activated and customer should be demonstrated the first use by taking him to the ATM. He requested all the member banks to put Bank Mitras at all identified places for educating and providing uninterrupted services to the beneficiaries of PMJDY.

While emphasizing for setting up of Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) in the state of Punjab, Shri Shanker apprised the House with happiness that 19 RSETIs are operating in the State and that the land has been allotted in 17 districts and in remaining 5 districts, allotment of land is under consideration. Shri Shanker asked the Department of Rural Development, Government of Punjab to expedite the process of allocation of land in remaining districts of the State for construction of premises of RSETI by the concerned Banks.

While reviewing the performance of banks under various key parameters in the State of PUNJAB for the period from January 2014 to December 2014, Shri Gauri Shanker informed that, Commercial Banks and RRBs have opened 504 new Branches since January 2014, thus raising the total number of branches to 5623 as at 31.12.2014 from 5119 branches as at 31.12.2013. No Block of PUNJAB is unbanked. The Banks in Punjab have installed 151 ATMs during quarter ending December 2014 taking their tally to 7280 as at 31.12.2014.

The total deposits in Punjab have increased by ` 32099crore from ` 222081 crore to ` 254180 crore thereby showing an increase of 14.45% during the review period. Total Advances during the period from December 2013 to December 2014 have increased by ` 17103 crore i.e. from ` 177911 crore to ` 195014 crore registering a growth of 9.61 % during review period.

Priority Sector Advances have increased from ` 90794crore as at December 2013 to ` 102996crore as at December 2014 showing a growth of 13.43%. Agriculture advances have increased from ` 43235 crore as at December 2013 to ` 49303 crore as at December 2014 recording a growth of 14.03%.

Advances to Micro & Small Enterprises have increased from ` 38655 crore as at December 2013 to ` 45271 crore as at December 2014 showing a growth of 17.11%. Shri Shanker informed that as per the recommendations of Prime Minister’s Task Force on Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) under Chairmanship of TKA Nair, the banks are required to achieve year on year 20% growth in credit to Micro & Small Enterprises & 10% Annual growth in number of Micro Enterprises accounts. Shri Gauri Shanker urged upon bankers to monitor the progress in providing credit to this vital sector so that the stipulated targets are achieved for the state as a whole.

Shri Gauri Shanker informed that Weaker Sector Advances in the State have increased from ` 28554 crore as at December 2013 to ` 33276 crore as at December 2014 thereby showing a growth of 16.53%.

Shri Gauri Shanker said that Micro financing has assumed greater importance and the role of banks have become even more demanding. There is need to have close rapport with NGOs and other agencies including Social Welfare Agencies to help formation and linkage of SHGs. 33070 SHGs have been Saving Linked and 22504Credit-linked up to December -2014 in the State.

Shri Gauri Shanker informed that recovery of banks’ dues is of paramount importance as it makes the lendable funds available with them. He requested the State Government Authorities to set up special courts for expeditious disposal of pending cases, particularly falling under category of 1-3 years.

Earlier, while welcoming the participants, Sh. Harpal Singh, Field General Manager, Punjab assured the State Government of pro-active support from the banking system to accelerate the economy of the State on a faster pace.