Banks directed to set up Entrepreneurship Development Institutes

The State government is focusing on the self employment of the youth and has asked the banks that are having more than 15 branches in the state should set up the Entrepreneurship Development Institutes (EDIS) in line with the Rural Development and Self Employment Training Institute (RUDSET Institute). The official sources said that the banks that have not opened their EDIs should speed up the process of setting up a similar institute in the state.

The State Bank of India (SBI), UCO Bank, Andhra Bank, Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank have set up such institutes; Union Bank of India has started the process of setting up a similar institute in the state.

The banks that have not yet opened their EDI have been instructed to set up such institutes in the rented premises without further delay. They can also look for land/shed/building in the districts where they propose to set up these institutes.

In the recent meeting of the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) held in October it was discussed that the interested banks will have to apply to the collector of the concerned district through the District Industries Centre (DICs).They can take support or assistance from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) and involve it in the process while opening such institutes.

Further, in the situation of insufficient finance with the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the state, the banks have been instructed to improve credit flow to the sector. The pending applications for loans under MSME category will be cleared off at the earliest.

In addition banks have been directed to take maximum advantage of the Credit Guarantee Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) as it helps the entrepreneur to get collateral free loans up to Rs 50lakh. It is being expected to boost the finance under SME sector.

The SLBC has formulated a plan of action to improve the credit-deposit ratio in the state and also to increase the quantum of differential rate of interest (DRI) loans to 1 percent of the total advances.

According to the plan of action, the cent percent financial inclusion of Kendarapada, Koraput, Kandhamal, Kalahandi, Nuapara, Baragarh, Jharsuguda, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrakh, Balasore, Dhenkanal, Mayurbhanj and Gajapati would be completed at the earliest and for the entire state the process must be completed by 2009.

Whereas the banks who have accepted the handloom clusters must extend necessary finance to those clusters, and the banks who have not yet adopted the clusters must which adopt the clusters which have been identified by the textile and the handloom department of the Orissa government.

Further more, to boost crop production in the state, banks have been asked to finance the schemes related to farm mechanization, Jalanidhi program and other subsidy linked scheme sponsored by the agriculture department of the Orissa government.