State government to release their share of funds for RRBs: Finance Ministry

19 Jul 2011 Evaluate

The Finance Ministry has asked the state governments to bring their share of funds for recapitalization of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), as lending to agriculture sector may reduce because of capital constraints faced by RRBs.

For the current financial year, central government had set the lending target of Rs 4.75 lakh crore for farm sector, out of which Rs 51,000 crore will come from the RRBs, promoted by central and state governments. A finance ministry official said we can only release the sum after the state government and sponsoring banks have released their share. By adding further he said that the delay in the part of state governments may affect the lending capacity of RRBs.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in his budget speech for current financial year had allocated Rs 500 crore for recapitalization of RRBs. However, till date, central government has issued only Rs 97 crore as state governments has not brought their share which is around 15% of the total amount. The central government holds 50% stake in every RRB, 35% stake is with sponsoring banks and remaining 15% is with the relevant state government.

Central government wants all RRBs to have a capital adequacy ratio of minimum 9% by the end of the current financial year. Almost 50% or around 40 of total RRBs need capital support which is estimated to be around Rs 2,200 crore, delay in funds from state governments will weaken the RRBs ability to provide credit to farm sector. On the other hand, state governments are unwilling to release their part of share, because it does not fetch them dividend, and there is no visibility compared to other state sponsored schemes.

Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) were established with a view to develop the rural economy as well as to create an alternative channel to the 'cooperative credit structure' so as to ensure sufficient institutional credit for the rural and agriculture sector.  The RRBs, with a focus on serving the rural areas, are an integral segment of the Indian banking system. The RRBs grant loans and advances mostly to small and marginal farmers, agricultural labourers and rural artisans.

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