THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finance Minister K M Mani has urged commercial banks in the state to slash the high interest rates for education loans availed of by beneficiaries during 2004-2009 period for professional education, in the light of the declaration in the state Budget to write off the interest burden of the loans. Seeking the cooperation of commercial banks, Mani, who was chairing the 106th state-level Bankers Committee meet here on Monday, said that the Union Government has announced an interest subsidy for post-2009 education loans advanced to professional courses. The State Government has stepped in after finding that many who had completed their education in earlier years but were unable to find jobs, are now in dire straits. Though `5 crore had been earmarked in the state Budget, this was not sufficient and the banks by sharing the burden can provide a great relief for the State Government. “Such a gesture will bring down the level of non-performing assets of banks and would also support a social cause,’’ Mani said. Mani sought the support of the SLBC for the ambitious State Entrepreneurship Mission .The mission is to create six lakh jobs by providing `20 lakh each as interest-free loans. G Sreeram, General Manager, Canara Bank and convenor, SLBC, Kerala, promised that the government request will be discussed.The total deposits of the commercial banks in the state as on December 2011 touched `1,86,285 crore. Of this, NRE deposits accounted for `45,937 crore. The total advances during the first three quarters of the fiscal stood at `1,39,347 crore. The Credit-Deposit ratio of the commercial banks in the state was 74.80 per cent and the Credit and Investment Deposit ratio stood at 79.59 per cent. The total advances to the priority sector reached `78510 crore. This is 56 per cent of the total advances against the national norms of 40 per cent. The total advances and investments in approved securities/debentures was `1,48,256 crore. The commercial banks in the state disbursed `49,378 crore to the priority sector in the first three quarters of the current fiscal. This is 86 per cent of the total disbursement target of `57,271 crores for 2011-2012, the meet was told. Out of the disbursals, `25,145 crore was for the agriculture sector alone, `1769 crore for the secondary sector and `22,464 crore to the tertiary sector, said G Sreeram, General Manager, Canara Bank, and convenor of SLBC, Kerala.The meeting was attended by P K Mohanty, Additional Chief Secretary, Subrata Biswas, Principal Secretary, Planning & Economic Affairs Department, V P Joy, Principal Secretary, Finance Department, Sarada Muraleedharan, Executive Director, Kudumbashree, Suma Varma, Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India, K C Shashidhar, Chief General Manager, NABARD, V Murali, Chief General Manager, State Bank of India, V K Chopra, Deputy Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Union Ministry of Finance, K S Prabhakara Rao, General Manager, Canara Bank and others spoke.G Sreeram welcomed the gathering and C G Nair, Deputy General Manager, Canara Bank proposed vote of thanks.
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