Mangaluru: The poor performance of banks in lending to priority sector in Dakshina Kannada, known as the cradle of banking, in the first quarter of the current financial year came to the fore at a meeting here on Monday.

Selvamani R., Chief Executive Officer, of Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat, presided over the meeting.

It was the first meeting of the District Consultative Committee and District Level Review Committee for Banking Development during the current financial year. The meeting was convened to review the banking business and development in the district from April to June 2018.

According to a note circulated at the meeting by Syndicate Bank, lead bank of the district, the total priority sector advances stood at 16.75 % of the annual target (2018-19) and the advances to the non-priority sector was 63.73 % of the fiscal’s target. The total advances, both to priority sector and non-priority sector, stood at 28.72 % of the annual target.

Disbursement to agriculture sector, a priority one, stood at 19.82 % of the annual target. Unhappy over this, Mr. Selvamani questioned the banks for lagging behind in lending during the season when farmers make preparations for farming operations. However, no convincing explanations came from bankers.

When Mr. Selvamani wanted to know the progress of lending to the urban poor to build houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), an official told the meeting that 900 files were pending to be cleared for housing in the jurisdiction of urban local bodies. Then, Mr. Selvamani asked the official concerned to clear them by this month-end.

A senior official of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) noted that the credit deposit ratio (the ratio of how much a bank lends out of the deposits it has mobilised) of Canara Bank, Corporation Bank, State Bank of India and Vijaya Bank was below the stipulated benchmark of 60 %. Asking them to take corrective steps, he said that the performance of the four banks would be reviewed in the next meeting.

He also questioned the banks for lagging behind in lending to other priority sector which was only at 6.78 % of the total annual target.

Disbursement to MSME sector stood at 23.69 % of the total target.