IOB New Branch Opened
Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram inaugurating a new branch of IOB at Madampatti in Coimbatore on Sunday. Bank’s Director M.N. Kandasamy (second from left) and Executive Director G. Narayanan (fourth from left), are in the picture. Investing in human resources is the best possible investment one can make. This investment will give more returns than any other will. Hence, banks should not hesitate to give education loans to students, Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, said here on Sunday. Inaugurating the 1,937th branch of Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) at Madampatti, near Coimbatore, he said that in the last four years since the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government came to power, Rs. 20,000 crore had been given to 12,51,691 students. This was an enormous jump from the figure of 3,19,339 during the National Democratic Alliance rule.
“The UPA Government believes in bringing about revolutionary changes in the existing system. The education loan system has undergone many changes to reach out across the barriers of caste, creed and status to deserving students. It is in sync with the principle that the services of banks should benefit those at the grassroot level,” Mr. Chidambaram said. The Government wanted banks to prioritise its services by providing loans for education, farmers, self-help groups and cottage industries.
Reacting to criticisms from certain quarters that a branch of a bank was being inaugurated every week, he said the Government believed in changing the functioning and approach of banks. “It is not enough in taking bank deposits from the rural poor. The benefits should reach them. Hence, I am happy inaugurating branches in every nook and corner.” Speaking on farmer loans, he said that when the UPA Government came to power, the loan amount disbursed to farmers was Rs. 84,435 crore. “I promised that it will double in three years. But, now after four years it has trebled to Rs. 2,50,000 crore (2007-08). Our estimate for 2008 is Rs. 2,80,000 crore. The interest rate has also been reduced to 7 per cent,” the Finance Minister said.
Reiterating that the loan waiver for farmers was only a one-time exercise, Mr. Chidambaram said: “We have waived loans to the tune of Rs. 66,000 crore. We did this to mitigate the suffering of the farmers. But, this cannot be done every year.” Only when a loan was repaid, it enabled the bank to extend it to somebody else. The same was the case with the educational loan too, he said. The Minister also distributed priority credit loans amounting to Rs. 4.12 crore to 1,729 beneficiaries. G. Narayanan, Executive Director, IOB, and M.N. Kandasamy, Director, IOB, spoke.
