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Angshuman Chakraborty's List: Current Financial

  • Oct 24, 08

    in.news.yahoo.com/...lans-kisan-cards-to-widen.html

    • Fri, Oct 24 02:59 AM

      To bring in more farmers under the credit net of the mainstream banking system, the the West Bengal agriculture department is planning to push banks to issue 15 lakh kisan credit cards (KCCs) by 2012. The department has taken up the issue at the state-level bankers' committee (SLBC) meeting. "By 2012, we should have at least 30 lakh Kisan credit cards from the present 15 lakh," said Sanjeev Chopra, agriculture secretary, West Bengal. Of an approximate 68 lakh people having operational holdings, 70% are small and marginal farmers.

      "The ratio of corpus to bank finance is 1.13 only, which indicates under-financing by banks," said a top official in the state finance department. The requirement of farmer's credit in West Bengal is about Rs 15,000 crore according to estimates by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard). While the state government eyed a disbursal of Rs 5,000 crore of rural credit this fiscal, the formal banking structure in the state could disburse only a little more than Rs 3,000 crore.

      "We are talking to several banks including cooperative banks to forge a way out," said Sanjeev Chopra. "Increasing the number of kisan credit cards will bring more people under the mainstream credit net," he said. "The banks have infrastructure constraints and we are ready to lend our manpower to the banks for KCCs," he said. The department is even ready to offer special incentives to the banks against KCC accounts.

      According to sources, out of 3,354 gram panchayats (GPs) in West Bengal, about one-third do not have any bank branch. A task force formed by the SLBC has identified about 200 GPs for establishing banking facilities. "We have given targets to our principal agricultural officers and they have been asked to at least double it by the this five-year plan," Chopra said. The department is planning to creatre three to five lakh new KCC accounts every year to achieve the target.

  • Oct 24, 08

    Fri, Oct 24 02:59 AM

    The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has pulled up public sector undertakings, including Coal India subsidiary Eastern Coalfields, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, Hindustan Paper Corporation, Inland Waterways Authority of India, Antrix Corporation for inefficient functioning, which caused a financial implication of Rs 4,284.19 crore.

    The CAG, in its report submitted in Lok Sabha on Thursday, stated the Eastern Coalfields had to incur an extra expenditure of around Rs 90 crore during FY'04-FY'07 as it transported coal through longer routes and stored the fossil fuel unnecessarily. Also, CAG said due to detention of Railway wagons beyond stipulated time, the company had to pay Rs 10.19 crore toward demurrage charges during the period.

    "Quantity of underloading of coal increased by 100% though the quantity dispatched was almost the same. As a result, the company paid Rs 38.64 crore from 2003-04 to 2005-06," the CAG said in the report for 2006-07. The company did not impose penalty of Rs 11.27 crore on the transport contractors for unexecuted quantity of coal transported as per the conract, the report stated. In case of BSNL, CAG found the PSU had not issued proper bills to customers, which resulted in a financial loss of more than Rs 100 crore. In addition to this, the report stated, "Rs 292.65 crore were outstanding as of October 27 toward leased circuits and rentals though these were to be collected in advance".

    Hindustan Paper Corporation had consumed inputs higher than the norms fixed for it, thereby losing Rs 53,30 crore. Highlighting the inefficiency of the company, CAG said its market share dropped from 12.7% in FY'05 to 9.8% in FY'07, although the industry expanded at a compounded annual growth rate of 5.5% in five years to FY'07. Moreover, excess downtime led to avoidable loss of production of 1,58,561 mt. According to CAG findings, Inland Waterways Authority of India was unable to fully utilise the funds for the development of national waterways, including Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghl

    in.news.yahoo.com/...us-for-inefficient-functi.html

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