Bankers should adopt social, humanitarian attitude: Telangana Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka Mallu

Addressing the meeting, he said Telangana is a young and fast developing State. It is an investment destination not only for countrymen but for the entire world, he said adding that the state capital has Outer Ring Road, an international airport, affordable human resources, an ideal environment, a friendly government, and a cosmopolitan city with no language problem, he said adding that no State can develop without the positive attitude of bankers, he said.

The bankers should come forward to give loans not only to big industrialists but also to the poor and middle classes, he said. The social sector agenda alone is the objective of this Indiramma Rajyam. Along with agro-based industries, in Telangana, core industry, software, hardware and other clusters were also developed. With the construction of the Regional Ring Road, the face of Telangana State would change. With the biggest RRR, Telangana would develop into urban, semi-urban and Rural regions.

Bhatti said that on the lines of Thames River development in London, in Hyderabad the Musi Riverfront Development Board would be constituted soon for the development of Musi catchment area. Business would expand in the Musi catchment area too. Telangana with fast-developing agriculture and industrial sectors would soon compete with developed nations in the world. The Deputy CM assured full cooperation to the agriculture sector. Investment support would be extended to farmers through Rytu Bharosa.

Along with remunerative prices, bonuses were also being extended to some crops, he disclosed. The paddy production increased manifold in the State and as a result, the Centre would extend incentives for ethnol petroleum products. The State government is ready to provide all kinds of incentives for Oil Palm development in the State. The amounts for agricultural produce and other incentives were being released promptly without any pendency. Recently Rs 100 crore was released for oil palm cultivators, he said. Telangana is ideal for oil palm cultivation, he added.

Referring to the industrial sector, Bhatti said that banks should extend loans on a large scale to MSME and large-scale industries. The industrial sector provided large-scale employment in the State and the country, he explained. Emphasising that the State would achieve integrated development only by extending loans to weaker sections, Bhatti said though government was releasing its share for subsidised schemes, bankers were not extending cooperation.

Normally even when banks released loans, there would be a delay in the release of subsidy amount but in the State, the reverse situation was prevailing, he noted. Though private banks were achieving targets, national banks were lagging behind in this regard. It is not proper to bring down the number of branches of national banks. The national and rural banks should publicise their brand image, he suggested.

Telangana government's main goal is the development of women groups and for this govt would extend interest-free loans to the tune of Rs 20,000 crore to Mahila Sanghas every year and in five years, one lakh crore loans would be extended to them. The state government has also taken up the Indiramma housing scheme to construct houses for the poor without their own house. Plans have been prepared to construct five lakh houses, he explained.

Bhatti said the State has surplus power and there were no power cuts even for a second. Free power was being supplied to the agriculture sector for 24 hours. Even in future, if large-scale industries are set up, there would not be any problem in supplying the required power, he said.

In the coming few days, a new power policy will be introduced, he said adding that development would be possible only when loans were increased. "Extend loans on a large scale and the government would extend its support to you", Bhatti told the bankers. (ANI)