Karnataka Bank assigns 51 branches to focus agriculture lending

Karnataka Bank, Mangalore based lender has assigned 51 branches to concentrate on agriculture lending, as it plans to disburse Rs 1,000 crore to agriculture sector during 2012-13. These branches will deal with both direct and indirect advances to agriculture sector. The bank has already acknowledged some growth centers throughout India.

These 51 branches will be indentified as green-belt branches. At the end of the 2011-12 total agriculture portfolio of the bank stood at around Rs 2,800 crore. It has disbursed around Rs 800 crore to agriculture sector during that year.

The bank is likely to launch ATM cards for Kissan Credit Card accounts of the farmers. It aims to concentrates on financial inclusion and reaching out to rural population in big way.