Big Announcement Regarding Banks: The Reserve Bank of India and the government are launching several initiatives and campaigns to improve the banking system across the country. There is now significant concern from the Finance Minister regarding banks. Nirmala Sitharaman expressed concern over the slow progress of the computerization of regional rural banks and urged to expedite it for providing better financial services in villages and towns.
The government has introduced a Farmer Portal
After launching the Farmer Loan Portal and the Weather Information Network Data System (WINDS) manually, Sitharaman mentioned that there is still a lot of work to be done for the digitization of regional rural and cooperative banks.
Cooperative banks are not usually financially robust.
She noted that cooperative banks are not equally financially strong, and their financial health varies. To enhance their capacity, the Ministry of Cooperation, under the leadership of Home Minister Amit Shah, is taking the initiative in this sector.
Big Announcement Regarding Banks Cooperative bank’s swift digitization is essential
FM Nirmala Sitharaman emphasized that the digitization of cooperative banks needs to happen swiftly. However, the FM has expressed her greater concern about NABARD, their digitization, and computerization. Therefore, if they don’t have this in place, the Phone Banking facility or Internet Banking facility won’t work effectively.
FM provided this information
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that there is still a lot of work to be done, and the Department of Financial Services is actively promoting computerization. FM mentioned that during the pandemic times, the villages saved the economy so govt is giving significant importance to the agriculture sector and farmers.
The Agriculture Minister said that farmers’ income has increased.
On this occasion, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar stated that the government’s various measures have increased farmers’ income. He said that the budget allocation for the Ministry has increased multiple times since 2013-14 because the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi places great importance on this sector.
The Agriculture Minister discussed loans
Regarding short-term crop loans, Tomar said that there is no shortage of funds for this sector. In the current financial year, agriculture loans have been allocated Rs. 20 lakh crore, focusing on animal husbandry, dairy, and fisheries. Usually, a nine percent interest rate is charged on agricultural loans.
To help boost agricultural production the government is providing interest subvention to provide short-term crop loans at affordable rates.
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A loan of Rs. 3 lakh will be available
To ensure farmers can get short-term agricultural loans up to Rs. 3 lakh at an effective rate of seven percent annually, the government is providing a two percent interest subsidy.
The Finance Minister talked about KCC
Regarding the Kisan Credit Card (KCC), Sitharaman said that banks should provide all the necessary data for the “Kisan Loan Portal” by December 31, 2023, to assist farmers in obtaining subsidized loans under the KCC scheme. She also instructed the Secretary of the Department of Financial Services, Vivek Joshi, to ensure that banks make all the data available within the stipulated time.
The campaign will start on October 1st, 2023
The Finance Minister announced the launch of the KCC campaign to reach every household. This campaign will be launched on October 1, 2023.