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State Level Bankers' Committee of West Bengal celebrates 100th Meeting
United Bank of India, Convener, State Level Bankers’ Committee of West Bengal, convened 100th SLBC meeting on 12.09.2007 to review the performance of Banks for the quarter ending June,2007. The meeting also reviewed the progress made with regard to major decisions of the last Special SLBC meeting held on 31.03.2007.
The 100th SLBC meeting was graced by Dr Surya Kanta Mishra, Hon’ble Minister, Health & Family Welfare, Panchayat & Rural Development, Dept. of Bio-Tech. and Employees’ State Insurance , Govt. of West Bengal, Dr. Ashim Dasgupta, Hon’ble Finance Minister, Govt. of West Bengal, Shri Naren Dey, Hon’ble Minister in Charge, Agriculture, Govt. of West Bengal, Smt. Rekha Goswami, Hon’ble Minister in Charge, Self Help Group & Self Employment, Govt. of West Bengal, Shri S.Ghosh, Principal Secretary, Finance Department, Govt. of West Bengal, Smt. Usha Thorat, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, Shri P.K. Gupta, CMD of United Bank of India and Chairman of the State Level Bankers’ Committee for the State of West Bengal, Shri A.C. Mahajan, CMD of Allahabad Bank, Shri M. S. Sundara Rajan, CMD of Indian Bank, Shri S.K. Mitra, Executive Director, NABARD along with Senior Executives of the major banks of the State. Besides Senior Officials from the State Government also attended the meeting. The Regional Director of the Reserve Bank of India & Senior Officials of RBI were also present.
Shri P.K. Gupta, CMD of United Bank of India and Chairman of the State Level Bankers’ Committee for the State of West Bengal in his welcome address mentioned that United Bank of India was designated the Convener of State Level Bankers Committee for the State of West Bengal in October 1976 and its first meeting was held in the middle of 1977. Thereafter, the SLBC has traversed a long journey of thirty years and has been instrumental in bringing about substantial progress on all the key parameters of State’s economy.
Dr. Ashim Dasgupta, Hon’ble Finance Minister, Govt. of West Bengal, during his deliberations recapitulated the long and close relationship with the SLBC and the Convener Bank and expressed his satisfaction over steady increase in flow of credit to agriculture, small scale industries, Self Help Groups, improvement of Credit Deposit Ratio etc. Dr Dasgupta urged the banks to raise the CDR of the State by further 5% during he year 2007-08. He also advised the bankers to extend credit to un-employed youths through Employment Generation Schemes and go in for One Time Settlements for small borrowers specially for farmers. The Hon’ble Finance Minister assured full support of the State Govt for improvement of recovery of loans by 5 percentage points during the year. Dr. Dasgupta also proposed for universal financial inclusion in the State by the end of 11th five year plan. While reviewing the performance he observed that the Bank have done better in all parameters during the first quarter of this year as compared to the corresponding last year, yet a lot is to be done to achieve the set targets for the year. Dr. Dasgupta urged upon the bankers for disbursement of all sanctioned cases under employment generation schemes within December, 2007.
Smt. Usha Thorat, Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India advised the bankers for achieving 100% financial inclusion in the State and informed that RBI was willing to assist banks in promoting financial literacy.
Dr. Surya Kanta Mishra, Hon’ble Minister, Health & Family Welfare, Panchayat & Rural Development, Deptt. of Bio-Tech and Employees’ State Insurance, Govt. of West Bengal launched SLBC Website for West Bengal. The website has information about State’s economy and data about banking system.
Dr. Asim Dasgupta, Hon’ble Finance Minister, Govt. of West Bengal released a Souvenir on the occasion of the 100th SLBC meeting of West Bengal containing messages and articles contributed by several eminent persons representing Regulators, Bankers and Senior Govt. Officials. The Souvenir is a good reference material, Shri Gupta claimed.. Two of the ex-CMDs of UBI Shri C. R. Sengupta and Shri B. Choudhuri were felicitated on the occasion. An exhibition of Self Help Groups financed by Banks was also organized. The representatives of the participating SHGs were also felicitated during the function.
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