AMARAVATI: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy held a review meeting on the Cooperative banks and directed the officials to strengthen them and offer loans at the lowest interest rates possible.

During the review meeting held at the camp office here on Thursday, the Chief Minister emphasized protecting cooperative banks as they belong to the State and asserted to provide loans at the lowest interest rates to benefit a large number of people. He also discussed strengthening DCCBs, societies, computerisation, transparency policies, and integrating with RBKs to reach a greater extent.

The Chief Minister stated that DCCBs and societies should be strengthened in such a way to withstand the competition in the banking sector and said that the banks would prosper by providing a good amount of loans to the public. He directed the authorities to follow proper SOPs and told them to focus on bringing profits to DCCB’s, as many farmers in the rural areas rely on those organisations.

Further, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy stated that Co-operative banks should also take advantage of such opportunities like providing gold loans, which provides complete security on loans taken. He stated that revolutionary changes have been brought in the agriculture sector through the RBK initiative and said that District Central Co-operative Banks need to be strengthened as they play a vital role in agriculture and allied sectors. He instructed officials to ensure complete transparency in providing loans leaving no place for politics or corruption and stressed that Co-operative banks should take steps to instill confidence in their customers.

The Chief Minister also emphasised that banking activities of Primary Agricultural Cooperative Credit Societies (PACS) should be carried out through RBKs and asked the officials to map the PACS accordingly and link them to RBKS, as banking correspondents are already working from RBKs liaising between farmers and banks. He told them to chart a policy by taking suggestions from banking experts.

He said that District Co-operative Banks and Societies should bring good management practices to benefit farmers and make use of kiosks in RBKs for banking activities, where the farmers can even upload documents. The Chief Minister also directed the authorities to take appropriate action on the complaints and suggestions received from the farmers during agriculture advisory council meetings.

Agriculture Minister Kurasala Kannababu, AP Agriculture Mission Vice-Chairman MVS Nagireddy, Chief Secretary Dr Sameer Sharma, Agriculture Special CS Poonam Malakondaiah, Principal Secretary for Marketing Y Madhusudhan Reddy and other senior officials were present at the review meeting.

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