Every Eligible Person Must Get Loans, AP CM Tells Banks

Vijayawada: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday directed banks to ensure that credit reaches every eligible and needy person across all sectors and sections of society.

The success of the state’s development efforts would depend on effective last-mile delivery of banking services, he said.

Addressing the 236th state-level bankers’ committee meeting at the Secretariat, Naidu announced his decision that future SLBC meetings would review performance bank-wise, district-wise and department-wise after analysing results.

The Chief Minister reviewed agricultural credit, loans to MSMEs, tenant farmers, women’s self-help groups (SHGs), PM Surya Ghar and other priority sectors. He expressed concern that some banks were lagging behind their lending targets and said SLBC reviews would have little meaning unless the targets were achieved.

Bankers informed him that action had been taken on nine of the 13 issues raised at the previous SLBC meeting.

The Chief Minister, however, said pending targets and issues should not continue to remain unaddressed. Though lending to MSMEs had increased, it was still below the expected level, he noted.

Naidu called for greater credit support to tenant farmers and urged banks to extend loans on a larger scale under PM Surya Ghar. He said the government wanted Andhra Pradesh to emerge as the country’s leading state in PM Surya Ghar implementation. Adequate bank financing would be crucial to achieving the goal.

He said the state had set a target of achieving 15 per cent economic growth but had faced difficulties due to El Nino conditions. Efforts were under way to overcome the challenge.

The CM praised women SHG members for their loan repayment record, saying more than 99 per cent of the borrowers were repaying loans on time, while only 0.67 per cent were lagging behind in repayments. He suggested that banks examine a one-time settlement mechanism to achieve 100 per cent recovery from defaulters.

He directed officials to speed up the action plan for providing loans to beneficiaries of TIDCO houses. Banks were asked not to trouble applicants by insisting on NALA-related loans as the NALA Act had been repealed.

Naidu stressed the need for greater vigilance against cyber fraud and called for coordination with the DGP’s Cyber Security Cell. He also directed banks and officials to intensify financial literacy and cyber-fraud awareness programmes across the state.

The meeting noted that total bank advances in Andhra Pradesh had risen to Rs 10.28 lakh crore by June 2026, with agricultural credit accounting for Rs 3.98 lakh crore. During the first quarter of 2026-27, banks disbursed Rs 63,686 crore to 2.33 lakh MSMEs.

Under PM Surya Ghar, 1,57,703 applications had been received by Sept 10, with loans worth Rs 3,081 crore sanctioned. SHGs received Rs 18,621 crore in loans, while Rs 13,757 crore was sanctioned for 4,48,562 PM Mudra loan applicants.

Banks also briefed the CM on construction of their offices in the Amaravati financial hub. Naidu directed them to expedite the works.