Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Urges Regional Rural Banks To Boost MSME Credit
The finance minister also reviewed the performance of nine regional rural banks.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman urged the regional rural banks on Thursday to prioritise credit for the micro, small and medium enterprises sector and also increase awareness of government schemes, particularly in aspirational districts, to achieve Viksit Bharat by 2047.
Sitharaman reviewed the performance of nine RRBs from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, focusing on improving business performance, upgrading digital technology, and deepening financial inclusion in rural areas.
She also noted the need for the RRBs to enhance outreach in the MSME clusters, become more customer-friendly, and leverage their local connections.
The meeting also addressed the development of effective action plans to tackle sector challenges and acknowledged the progress in technology upgradation since 2022.
The annual action plan and progress of the banks from the last financial year were reviewed. Representatives from Nabard, Small Industries Development Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, and the nine RRBs participated and updated the minister on their respective banks' progress.
