Srinagar: As part of its efforts to improve the lot of farmers, Jammu and Kashmir State Cooperative Bank (JKSCB) has issued about 66,500 Kisan Credit Cards during the last financial year.
"Cooperative Banks of the State have issued around 66,500 Kisan Credit Cards to farming community of the State involving an amount of Rs 99.53 crore upto March, 2012," an official said here yesterday after a meeting convened to review the working of the bank.
The meeting, chaired by Minister of State for Cooperatives Manohar Lal Sharma, was told the total deposits of Cooperative Bank, which has a network of 265 branches, reached Rs 2508.87 crore during the last fiscal.
Lauding the efforts of JKSCB for increasing profits by 40 percent during last fiscal, the Minister advised all cooperative banks in the State to switch over to the core Banking Platform by end of the current financial year.
The minister also stressed on the need to improve the credit-deposit ratio of the banks so as to reach the national benchmark.
Sharma asked the CEOs of Cooperative Banks to reach out to the farming community of the State by extending different kinds of Agriculture loans in general. He also emphasised on issuing more Kisan Credit Cards.
The Minister said efforts must be made by the banks to recover all NPAs within three years.
PTI
