The meeting was also attended by Secretary @DFS_India and senior RBI officials @RBI, with representation by the Finance/Special Secretaries/senior officers of the Finance Department of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Puducherry and Karnataka. The meeting was also attended by MDs and CEOs of State Bank of India @TheSBIOfficial, Indian Bank, Union Bank of India, Canara Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and NABARD.
During the meeting, discussions revolved around financial performance of Regional Rural Banks as DFS Secretary gave a presentation on various financial metrics of the RRBs.
Finance Minister Ms. @nsitharaman stressed that the Regional Rural Banks #RRBs should continue their focus on the flagship schemes of the Central Government such as PMJJBY, PMSBY, PM SVANidhi, Atal Pension Yojana, PM Jan Dhan Yojana, PM Mudra Yojana, KCC, KCC Animal Husbandry & Fisheries, etc and aim for their saturation.
While highlighting that the CD Ratio, Gross NPAs, and Provision Coverage Ratio (PCR) of Regional Rural Banks of the Southern region was better than the national average, FM Ms. @nsitharaman exhorted the RRBs and Sponsor Banks to improve Current and Savings Account (CASA) Ratio of RRBs.
The Union Finance Minister stated that better adoption of technology, Loan Management System and Core Banking System should be done in a time-bound manner in the #RRBs of the Southern region. FM Ms. @nsitharaman further said that RRBs should focus on increasing digitally active customers in line with government’s effort to move towards greater digitalisation.
Finance Minister Ms. @nsitharaman also said that Sponsor Banks should map #RRBs with #MSME clusters and improve their presence in these clusters, while devising innovative products for the #MSME to serve them in a better way.
Finance Minister Ms. @nsitharaman further exhorted RRBs from the Southern region to work closely with the RBI @RBI and State Authorities concerned to improve their physical presence across the state.
FM Ms. @nsitharaman also highlighted leveraging #AccountAggregator Framework especially for lending to the Allied agricultural sector like fisheries and animal husbandry, besides granting loans to street vendors under PM SVANidhi.