Pranab to meet chiefs of north-based banks

State-wise flow of credit, financial inclusion and progress of centrally-sponsored schemes will top the agenda of Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee when he meets heads of north-based public sector banks and eight northern region chief ministers in Chandigarh on July 6.

Banks’ annual performance and their lending to infrastructure will also be discussed widely in the meeting.

Mukherjee is likely to ask the banks to improve their lending to infrastructure and job-generating sectors. States will be urged to join the New Pension System (NPS) of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

The third such zonal meeting of Mukherjee in three weeks, it will be attended by the chief ministers of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pardesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. The first meeting, for the east zone, was held in Patna on June 14, followed by a meeting for west zone states in Mumbai on June 28. The fourth meeting will take place in Hyderabad on July 20, with Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andaman & Nicobar, Lakshadweep and Pondicherry.

The finance minister will hold two meetings in Chandigarh on Tuesday. State CMs won’t attend the second. The first meeting, with the banks and CMs, will discuss state-wise flow of loans to agriculture, micro and small enterprises, housing, education, weaker sections, minority communities, and the credit-deposit ratio.

Banks will be asked to lay out a financial inclusion plan for 2010-12 and furnish details on state-wise bank branch network and unbanked blocks, self-help group linkage programmes, NREGA payments and payment of state government subsidies through the banking system. The progress of government schemes on insurance, pension, employment and rehabilitation of manual scavengers will come up.

The second meeting, to be attended only by the finance minister and bank chiefs, would review banks’ performance on deposits and advances, non-performing assets, return on assets, and disbursal of credit to agriculture, small and medium enterprises, housing, agriculture and minority communities. Implementation of the interest subsidy scheme for housing the urban poor will also be reviewed.

The second meeting was dropped from the agenda in the east and west zones at the last moment due to shortage of time. If something similar happens in Chandigarh, it may be removed from the agenda in Hyderabad.