AP CM seeks bankers ideas on wealth creation

Elaborating on his vision to make Andhra Pradesh the best state by 2029, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today asked bankers to take it as a pilot state for new income-generating activities.
Naidu asked bankers to increase lending to agriculture and allied activities, Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), entrepreneurs and women of Self-help groups (SHG).
He also sought their support for State Development Loans (SDLs), according to an official release.
"Given that the food habits of people are changing, there is rising demand for poultry, fish (aquaculture) and horticulture. Allied sectors (of agriculture) generate more jobs and hence, you can look at ways to lend to farmers relying on these activities," he said.

"While Barytes (Barite reserves) have fetched the government about Rs 5,000 crore, e-PoS (point of sale) in public distribution system has saved Rs 45 crore to the state exchequer in a month," he said.
The government's decision to hand over sand mining to women of SHGs has fetched about Rs 550 crore, the Chief Minister said adding this has not only led to streamlining of sand mining and sale, it has also made SHG women financial independent and has become a growth driver for AP.

"About 90 lakh women in the state are part of SHGs with an accumulated corpus of Rs 3,850 crore. Some of these groups are, however, under-performing. I want every group to have a corpus and inculcate a culture of savings once they borrow money from banks. Savings have to go up and the best channel to propagate this is the SHGs," Naidu said.

Principal Secretary (Finance) P V Ramesh, said "Banks can help us create a model where every family has a bank account and debit card (RuPay) which is linked with Unique ID (Aadhar card), has insurance and receives government benefits through this linkage model," he added.
By August 2015, the state government will ensure distribution of RuPay cards to every family in the state. The RuPay card will have Unique ID number inscribed on it, the release added.