“The banks should keep the welfare of the people of Punjab uppermost in their mind so as to provide quality banking services to them in a time bound manner”. Expressing these views while speaking on the occasion of 139th State Level Banking Committee (SLBC) meeting here today, the Punjab Chief Secretary, Mr. Sarvesh Kaushal stressed that to make further improvements in the functioning, every bank should institute incentive mechanism for the employees performing exceedingly well in the targeted areas with a provision to dis-incentivize those who are non-performers besides reviewing the overall institutional functioning on a fortnightly basis. The State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) acts as a consultative and coordination body of all financial institutions operating in the State. The committee discusses issues, consider alternative solutions to the various problems in the field of banking development and evolve a consensus for coordinated action by the member institutions.Under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, the Chief Secretary appreciated the effort being made by the banks for successful implementation of the scheme and urged all the bankers to complete the loan disbursement of the beneficiaries in a time bound manner. He also directed CA PUDA to work closely with Bankers to meet all the target of this scheme.
While analyzing the negative trend of Credit Deposit Ratio, Chief Secretary called upon the bankers to give more advances in the State especially in priority sector to further increase the CD ratio. Chief Secretary was informed that under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana , the banks in the State had opened 58,6839 accounts and out of which 85% accounts have been issued Rupay cards. Chief Secretary asked all the banks to provide the list of pending cards and all the Deputy Commissioners shall create awareness about the scheme and associated insurance plans . Expressing satisfaction at the response to the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY), the Chief Secretary said that nearly 84 percent of the beneficiaries have their accounts activated with the issuing of RuPay cards thus proving to be vital in providing of insurance cover to them. He also laid emphasis on strengthening the system of ‘Bank Mitras’ apart from giving further impetus to the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna (PMSBY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojna (PMJJBY), Atal Pension Yojna (APY), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna-Housing for All describing these of utmost importance in making the banking sector citizen friendly .Regarding three social security schemes till date 40, 22,066 persons have been enrolled in the State. Chief Secretary further called upon the bankers to meet the target of disbursement of Rs. 1578 crore in the State under MUDRA scheme (Micro units Development and Refinance Agency). Member Banks were requested to chalk out strategy for not only achieving the targets but to surpass them convincingly this year.While reviewing Stand up India scheme under which State banks have considered only 6150 cases against the target of 12526 cases, all the Deputy Commissioners shall be asked to hold frequent meetings of District Level Implementation Committees and also to create awareness through Print and Electronic media. The vacant positions of the Bank Mitras/ Correspondents were also discussed and all the Bankers assured that the vacant positions shall be filled on priority basis. Chief Secretary asked the bankers to relook at the structure and remuneration model of the Bank Mitras so that they can be effectively utilized in various Government social welfare schemes.
During the meeting, Member Banks were also requested to involve the Local leaders, Sarpanches and official from the office of Registrar, Birth and Deaths in every awareness programme conducted by the banks for schemes launched by Central Government i.e. PMJDY, PMSBY,PMJJBY, PMMY, APY etc. Further banks were asked to tap the unorganized workers for coverage under APY scheme and are requested to utilize the services of FLC Centres and bank mitras for covering maximum persons under the ambit of Atal Pension Yojana Scheme. Exhorting the bankers to adopt cashless economy and digitization as articles of faith, the Chief Secretary asked the banking institutions to go full throttle to reach out to the people in every nook and corner of the state so as to ensure that each person has bank account which is of prime importance to reap the benefits of digital transactions. Describing cashless economy and digitization as the futuristic areas, the Chief Secretary said that awareness through print, electronic and social media must be spread in order to popularize digital and cashless transactions amongst all the sections of society.On the occasion, Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) Satish Chandra, Additional Chief Secretary N.S. Kalsi, Secretary Expenditure Mr. Krishan Kumar, Registrar Co-operative Societies A.S. Miglani, Chief Administrator PUDA Manvesh Singh Sidhu, Executive Director PNB and Chairman State Level Business Committee R.S. Sangpure, Regional Director RBI Nirmal Chand and representatives from various leading banks were also present.