Mangaluru : Banks in Dakshina Kannada have been asked to improve their credit-deposit (CD) ratio.

Zilla Panchayat CEO Dr R Selvamani, addressing a district consultative committee meeting at the Zilla Panchayat Netravathy Hall on Tuesday, said that CD ratio as on September 30 was 57.96%, showing a decrease of 3.89% when compared to the corresponding ratio of 61.85% registered in September 30, 2018.

The ratio in the first quarter was 57.82%. Of the major banks, only Syndicate Bank has a ratio above 60%. The ratio of Canara Bank was 39.18%, Corporation Bank 37% and Karnataka Bank 40.49%. There is scope for improving CD ratio in the district, he added.

Syndicate Bank lead district manager Praveen M said deposit growths were not on par with the advances. The failure to receive loan waiver amount announced by the government was one of the reasons for poor lending.

Banks and RBI had become stringent about the loan eligibility of borrowers and look at Cibil score before releasing loans. The power of branches to sanction a loan at the branch level was revoked in branches that have a high rate of NPAs. As a results, the approval for a loan gets delayed. The flood in five taluks in the district is one of the reasons for the decline in advances, he explained.

On the poor lending in education and housing sector Syndicate Bank AGM Pushparaj Hegde said the disbursement under education loan during the first quarter of 2019-20 was Rs 62.13 crore as against the target of Rs 205.20 crore, thus achieving 30.28%.

The disbursement under housing during the first quarter 2019-20 was Rs 262.73 crore as against the target of Rs 1,220 crore, thus achieving 21.53% of the target.

Total business by 652 banks in Dakshina Kannada was Rs 73,670 crore with a year over year growth of 5.15%. The deposits stood at Rs 46,640.81 crore as on September 30 indicating a growth of 7.74% and the advances stood at Rs 27,029.44 crore indicating year over year growth of 0.95%.

The disbursement under the total priority sector in the first half of the year was Rs 5,207.15 crore against the annual target of Rs 12,659.04 crore.

Under Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), banks in the district have achieved 140% of the yearly target and surpassed the yearly target at the end of the first half-year itself. The DK district is ranked second for claiming subsidy under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme in the state. The district is selected for Award of Appreciation under Atal Pension Yojana Citizen’s Choice Campaign for the year 2019-20, said Hegde.