Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, chaired a meeting with heads of public sector banks (PSBs) and regional rural banks (RRBs) to review operational and governance reforms in RRBs, and the performance of the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme for animal husbandry, dairying, and fisheries.
The FM urged the sponsor banks to formulate a clear roadmap in a time-bound manner to further strengthen the RRBs and support the post-pandemic economic recovery. Sitharaman further advised IBA and sponsor banks to play a lead role in technological advancements in the RRBs and suggested holding a workshop for RRBs to share best practices. She instructed all the PSBs to onboard the account aggregator system by the end of July.
Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Parshottam Rupala and MoS Finance Dr Bhagwat Karad joined the FM in the review. As on July 1, 2022, 3.26 crore farmers (including 19.56 lakh animal husbandry, dairy and fisheries farmers) have been covered under the KCC scheme, with sanctioned credit limit of Rs 3.70 trillion. Rupala urged banks to take into account the special needs of small fishermen and those engaged in cattle rearing, while sanctioning loans under the KCC scheme.
