Bihar govt to lodge complaint on poor CDR of commercial banks

Bihar government today said it will lodge a complaint with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over the poor credit-deposit ratio (CDR) of commercial banks in the state.
Replying to a starred question by BJP MLA Brij Kishor Bind, state Finance Minister Abdul Bari Siddique told the Assembly that the commercial banks' credit ratio against deposit by the people of Bihar was less than desirable.
Bind had asked the minister as to why the state government was depositing 90 to 95 per cent money of various departments in commercial banks despite none of them being headquartered in Bihar against non-deposit in banks like Uttar Bihar Grameen Bank, Madhya Bihar Grameen Bank and Bihar Grameen Bank, all of them being headquartered in the state and with the state government having 15 per cent holding in them.

On intervention by some other legislators as to why the state government departments were depositing cash with those commercial banks who were not improving their CDR and social responsibility to the people of Bihar, Siddique said there was a guideline for deposit of public money in banks under which the deposits are made in only those banks which meet the cut off point at 35 or more in terms of CDR.
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The finance minister informed the Assembly that the Credit-Deposit Ratio (CDR) of commercial banks in Bihar are discussed during quarterly meeting between the state government and the State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) and many a times the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has raised the issue of the banks' not fulfilling social responsibility and about the CDR not being proportionate to people's deposit in Bihar.

BJP MLA from Bagaha, R S Pandey, a former Union petroleum secretary, intervened during the minister's reply claiming that as per his information, the CDR of commercial banks' in Bihar stood at less than 30 per cent against the national average at 60 and demanded a special norm to compel these banks to improve their credit ratio to the people of Bihar at par with the national average.