OSCB sets 12% higher farm loan target for current year

The bank had targeted to provide the crop loan Rs 7,000-cr during 2013-14 which included Rs 3,500-cr each for Kharif and Rabi agriculture season

The Odisha State Cooperative Bank (OSCB) plans to lend Rs 8,000-crore crop loan during 2014-15, which is Rs 910-crore (12 per cent) higher than the achievement of the previous year.

The crop loan target for this year included Rs 4,200-crore for Kharif-2014 and Rs 3,800-crore for Rabi 2014-15, sources said.

In 2013-14, the apex cooperative bank in the state had disbursed crop loan to over 28.66 lakh farmers (Rs 7,090.27 crore) and achieved 101 percent of the target fixed by the government. The disbursed loan amount comprised Rs 3,624.25 crore to 15.26 lakh farmers in Kharif-2013 and Rs 3,465.98-crore to 13.40 lakh peasants in Rabi-2013-14 agriculture season, said bank's managing director TK Panda. This was an all-time record for the bank for the stipulated period.

The bank had targeted to provide the crop loan Rs 7,000-crore during 2013-14 which included Rs 3,500-crore each for Kharif and Rabi agriculture season.

Around 80 percent of the total crop loan in the state is disbursed though the cooperative sector. The OSCB disbursed the loan though 2,705 Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies (PACS) working under 17 District Cooperative Central Banks (DCCB).

With the Kharif-2014 agriculture season starting from April 1, the bank has fixed the target for each DCCB for the Kharif-2014, sources said. The highest target of Rs 715-crore is given to the Sambalpur DCCB. Similarly, the Bhawanipatan DCCB has been asked to provide Rs 100 crore farm loan, sources said.

The bank also fixed target for other DCCBs, Angul (Rs 310-crore), Aska (Rs 125-crore), Balasore (Rs 600-crore), Banki (Rs 150-crore), Bolangir (Rs 160 crore) Berhampur (Rs 150 crore), Boudh (Rs 120 crore), Cuttack (Rs 660 crore), Keonjhar (Rs 120 crore) Khurda (Rs 200 crore), Koraput (Rs 210 crore), Mayurbhanj (Rs 130 crore), Nayagarh (Rs 140 crore), Sundargarh (Rs 200 crore) and Puri-Nimapara (Rs 110 crore).

In 2013-14, the Koraput DCCB had clocked the highest 118 percent target achievement in disbursing crop loan in both the agriculture seasons-Kharif and Rabi. Berhampur DCCB, however, faired lowest among the DCCBs with 87 per cent achievement during the period.