Dehradun: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, while chairing the 97th State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) meeting at the Secretariat on Thursday, reviewed banking services, credit disbursement, financial inclusion, and self-employment schemes. He directed banks to accelerate lending, stating that the banking sector plays a vital role in the state’s economic development and that access to credit should be made easier for citizens, farmers, youth, women, and entrepreneurs.
The Chief Minister laid special emphasis on improving the state’s Credit-Deposit (CD) Ratio and instructed banks to organize regular loan camps in districts with relatively low CD ratios, including Bageshwar, Pauri, Almora, Rudraprayag, Pithoragarh, and Tehri. He directed district administrations, lead banks, and concerned departments to identify eligible beneficiaries and ensure timely loan disbursement so that Uttarakhand’s CD ratio reaches the national average.
He stressed that no eligible applicant should face unnecessary difficulties in accessing government schemes. If an application contains technical deficiencies, applicants should be guided to rectify them instead of having their applications rejected outright. He urged banks to play a proactive role in ensuring that eligible beneficiaries receive the benefits of government schemes.
The Chief Minister noted that the state has achieved nearly 96% of its Annual Credit Plan target for the financial year 2025–26 and 111% of the target in the MSME sector, describing these figures as indicators of strong economic progress. He instructed banks to prioritize loan disbursement under schemes such as Chief Minister Self-Employment Scheme 2.0, Veer Chandra Singh Garhwali Self-Employment Scheme, Homestay Scheme, PM Vishwakarma Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, and Kisan Credit Card. He also emphasized expanding banking support for agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, fisheries, tourism, and enterprises based on local products.
Highlighting the importance of digital banking and digital payments, the Chief Minister called for expanding financial inclusion to every village and ensuring wider coverage under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and other financial schemes. He said coordinated efforts by the government and banks would boost employment, self-employment, entrepreneurship, and help achieve the goal of a Developed Uttarakhand.
During the meeting, Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan suggested integrating the 1930 cybercrime helpline with the State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank to enable faster action in cyber fraud cases. He also emphasized holding regular meetings of the SLBC sub-committee before the main committee meetings and increasing credit flow to livelihood, small-scale industries, and the MSME sector. Senior government officials and representatives of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), NABARD, and various banks attended the meeting.
