With the Union Budget just a few days away and amid expectations that the government is likely to focus on boosting the agriculture sector, heads of public sector banks on Thursday were directed by the government to provide Kisan credit card facility to all farmers in the country.
In a day-long review meeting of the banking sector, which was presided over by the Banking Secretary Vivek Joshi, the public sector banks’ chiefs were directed to take the help of the PM KISAN database to undertake this exercise.
The progress of the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) scheme was also reviewed in the meeting, sources said. Officials from the Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare were also present at the meeting, where a review related to agricultural credit was also undertaken.
The progress in the digitization of the process for getting the Kisan credit card was also discussed to improve transparency. Public sector banks were advised to take necessary steps to digitize the entire journey of Kisan credit card loans in a time-bound manner.
During the meeting, the progress of various social security schemes, including Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Atal Pension Yojana (APY), Pradhan Mantri MUDRA and Prime Minister Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PMSVANidhi), and Agri credit, etc, were also reviewed.
It was emphasized in the meeting that banks need to put in all-out efforts to make the customer experience more enriching and pleasant for a sustainable banking relationship. Indian Banks Association (IBA) has already been requested to expedite the Consumer Service Rating for all scheduled commercial banks to gauge consumer expectations and to enable banks to raise their standards of service delivery to every segment of the customer.
