179th State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC)

179th State Level Bankers’ Committee Meeting along with the Special SLBC on Financial Inclusion & Financial Literacy of Odisha was held on 23rd May 2025.

• Development Commissioner-Cum-Additional Chief Secretary, Smt. Anu Garg urged upon all banks to achieve 100% credit target of Rs2.52 lakh crore for the year 2025-26.
• Thrust on credit flow to Agriculture and allied sector, MSME, Housing, Education.
• Emphasis made on support of banks for newly introduced Cold Storage Promotion Scheme to cover all subdivisions of the state.
• Timely and adequate credit to all regions of the State and all categories including women, SC & ST and weaker sections
• 3 Best performing banks and 3 Lead District Managers awarded

Smt. Anu Garg, Development Commissioner-cum-Additional Chief Secretary in her opening address, highlighted the need for achieving 100 percent Annual Credit Plan (ACP) target to the tune of Rs. 2.52 lakh crore for the FY 2025-26. As Odisha marches towards 2036, the role of adequate credit is critical, she said. She advised for timely and adequate credit to all regions of the State and all categories including Women, SC & ST and weaker sections. She urged upon the bankers to support recently launched “Financial Assistance to Cold Storage” scheme, aimed at strengthening storage eco system of the State to minimise the post-harvest loss and prevent distress sale by farmers initially covering all the 58 subdivisions of the State.

Executive Director of UCO Bank, Sri V.N. Kamble appreciated the bankers for achieving 100% target in agriculture sector, but expressed his concern for not achieving ACP in MSME Sector.

Principal Secretary, Agriculture & FE Department, Dr. Arabinda Kumar Padhee praised the effort of all banks for participating in the newly launched scheme “Financing to Cold Storage” and urged upon the banks to support entrepreneurship under Agriculture and allied sector.

Principal Secretary, Finance Department, Sri Saswata Mishra emphasised on improving performance by private sector banks in Govt. sponsored schemes like PMEGP, PMFME, PMSVANidhi. He urged banks for timely settlement of insurance claims under PMJJBY and PMSBY.

Regional Director, RBI, Bhubaneswar Dr. Sarada Prasan Mohanty appreciated the efforts of the LDMs for conducting Town Hall meetings to resolve the issues of MSME entrepreneurs at the district level.

Smt Usha Padhee (Principal Secretary, Commerce & Transport Department), Shri Suresh Kumar Vashishth (Principal Secretary, F & ARD Department), Convenor (SLBC), Senior officials of State and Central Government, NABARAD, RBI and Regional Controlling Heads of all banks were also present in the meeting.