Haryana Chief Secretary Dr Vivek Joshi on Friday called upon the bankers to launch a special campaign to reactivate inactive accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) and encourage nomination updates in depositor bank accounts.

Presiding over the 170th meeting of the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC), Dr Joshi highlighted the critical need to re-engage beneficiaries whose accounts have been inactive for a prolonged period. He emphasised that activating these dormant accounts would enable account holders to fully utilise the benefits of the PMJDY and promote the overall objectives of financial inclusion.

He also urged the banks to ensure widespread awareness among account holders about the importance of updating nominations in their accounts to secure their deposits and streamline the claims process in unforeseen circumstances.

The Chief Secretary stressed the role of banks in empowering economically weaker sections of society by facilitating access to government welfare schemes and financial services. He called for collaborative efforts to strengthen Haryana’s financial ecosystem and maximise the impact of initiatives aimed at inclusive growth.

He urged bankers to expedite the approval and disbursement of loans under the PM Suraj Kiran Yojana, a scheme aimed at providing free electricity to households by installing solar panels on their roofs. He highlighted that in addition to the central government subsidy, the Haryana government is also providing additional subsidies to consumers.

Responding to Regional Director of RBI, Vivek Srivastava, on enhancing the digital ecosystem in Haryana, the Chief Secretary urged bankers to take proactive measures to raise awareness about the benefits and use of digital payment systems.

He directed bankers to organise regular meetings in collaboration with district administration, with a particular focus on MSME institutions, to address and resolve the grievances of MSMEs. He also expressed satisfaction with the current credit-deposit (CD) ratio of 87 per cent but urged bankers to set higher targets.

Commending Haryana’s performance across various financial parameters discussed in the SLBC, Vivek Srivastava highlighted the need for improvement in credit flow to the agriculture and weaker sectors. He encouraged underperforming private sector banks to actively participate in various government schemes, noting that this would greatly support the SLBC’s efforts in achieving its targets and goals.

During a review meeting Kalyan Kumar, Executive Director of Punjab National Bank, outlined the road map for achieving financial targets for the fiscal year 2024-25. He said that Haryana’s banking sector has recorded remarkable achievements for the period ending September 2024.

According to him, the banking sector reported a total deposit base of Rs 7,72,496 crore and total advances of Rs 6,72,887 crore as of September 2024. This represents a year-on-year growth of Rs 82,663 crore (11.98 pc) in deposits and Rs 99,626 crore (17.38 pc) in advances.

Additionally, priority sector advances saw an increase of Rs 30,894 crore (13.27 pc), reflecting the banking institutions’ strengthened focus on key sectors such as agriculture and MSMEs. The CD ratio also improved significantly, rising from 83 pc in September 2023 to 87 pc in September 2024.

Banks have demonstrated impressive performance in achieving priority sector lending (PSL) targets for September 2024. The overall achievement for the month reached a commendable 133 per cent. This is particularly noteworthy in the agriculture, MSME, and other priority sector segments, which recorded achievements of 96 pc, 179 pc, and 43 pc respectively, he said.

Chief General Manager, NABARD Haryana, Nivedita Tiwary, outlined significant opportunities for agricultural and fisheries development in Haryana. She emphasized the need to establish large-scale vegetable production clusters near major consumption centers while promoting Farmer-Producer Organizations (FPOs) in these clusters.

The State Government has already initiated cluster development for vegetables, with NABARD supporting the formation of 124 FPOs, including 34 focused on vegetables. These FPOs, she noted, require credit support to scale up their operations. NABARD’s subsidiary, NABSANRAKSHAN, provides collateral guarantees for FPOs to facilitate credit linkage.

She also highlighted the growing potential of shrimp farming in Haryana, particularly in saline soil districts like Hisar, Sirsa, and Rohtak. Despite being a non-traditional fisheries state, Haryana has demonstrated the immense profitability of saline water shrimp farming, with an average harvest of seven tonnes per hectare and a farm price of Rs 300 per kilogram.

She also lauded Haryana’s advancements in digital agriculture through the “Mera Fasal Mera Byora” portal, which integrates land, farmer, and crop registries. However, she stressed the need to link the portal with the central Agristack database developed by the Government of India to maximize its potential and impact.