Modi's reforms will shore up banking sector

Hyderabad: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy said a slew of initiatives taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government will strengthen the banking sector in the country and contribute to the growth story of the Indian economy.

Addressing while inaugurating the Banks Runa Mela in Champapet here on Saturday, he said the reforms also meant making the country's banking sector one of the best in the world.

For this, the Centre has taken a revolutionary step to bring banking services to the doorsteps of the people by making post offices and sub-post offices through the Indian Post Payments Bank.

This revolutionary step has extended banking services to 1.33 lakh villages in the country. That apart, this has led to bringing people under the coverage of banking services. Also, the Mudra Yojana has given a fillip to the small, medium and micro enterprises and they are achieving targeted objectives.

He said that during the financial year ending 2019 nearly Rs 3.11 lakh crore has been distributed to six crore units. Similarly, 23 lakh units have been provided loans during the financial year 2019-20 and 97 per cent of loans are regularly operating,

he added.

Kishan Reddy said an expert committee appointed by RBI has made recommendations for long term measures for the stability of the SME sector and suggested to increase the loan for SMEs from Rs 10 to Rs 20 lakh without any collaterals for stability and growth of the sector.

In turn, implementation of the same has helped 6.73 crores SME units in the country on which 12 crore people are dependent for their livelihood, he mentioned.

To give a further boost to the sector, the Centre is targeting to increase the 29 per cent of SMEs contribution to the country's GDP to 50 per cent and also to increase their exports to 75 per cent by taking steps to achieve an annual growth rate of 9 per cent in the sector.

The NDA government brought financial inclusiveness by initiating the Jan Dhan Yojana which led to the opening of 37.11 crore bank accounts.

Out of this, nearly 51 per cent of accounts are opened by women. Nearly, Rs 82,000 crore has been deposited into these accounts to the beneficiaries under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), he stated.

Kishan Reddy said, under the Standup India programme, nearly 2.5 lakh beneficiaries from SC and ST groups are benefitted starting their own enterprises in production and service sectors.

While the amendments to the Insolvency Laws of 2016 helped to identify and attach properties of the wilful loan defaulters. While the nationalisation of banks in 1969 has failed in its objective.

But, the series of steps by the Modi's government is moving to achieve by bringing people into the economy and development, he added.