Naidu Tells Banks to Establish a Finance District

Vijayawada: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday called upon banks and financial institutions to play a proactive role in driving the state’s economic transformation, with a sharper focus on agriculture, primary sectors, micro, small and medium enterprises and self-help groups.

Addressing the 232 state-level bankers committee meeting on Tuesday, Naidu urged bankers to help create a financial district in Amaravati capital. "The government is ready to allot the necessary land, and banks may come forward to set up their offices in Amaravati," he said.

He urged bankers to support innovative initiatives like ‘One Family–One Entrepreneur’ and in the setting up of MSME parks in all 175 constituencies.

Naidu appealed to bankers to extend cooperation to fulfill the aim of the state government to make one lakh women entrepreneurs by March 8, 2026. In the annual credit plan, the banks extended loans of Rs 2,47,919 crore to all sectors, including Rs 94,666 crore for agriculture, Rs 49,831 crore for the MSME sector and Rs 1,00,278 crore for other sectors, including Rs 985 crore for tenant farmers.

The CM said he promoted the goal of ‘one family-one software engineer’ in the past and is now promoting the ‘one family-one entrepreneur’ norm and giving priority to developing women as entrepreneurs.

He said DWCRA group's women members achieved economic progress by availing loans from banks. Now, banks should come forward to extend loans to women entrepreneurs as the state government decided to develop MSME parks in all 175 assembly constituencies.

Naidu said that bankers should come forward to encourage youth and women by extending financial assistance to start-ups with lower interest rates through an interlinkage with the Ratan Tata Innovation Hub, which was inaugurated in Mangalagiri and five other centres in the state recently.

The CM said banks should upgrade their policies to suit the next generation's needs. Banks and public policies should not dictate terms to people and should rather encourage people with people-friendly policies.

He said the central government was also bringing reforms in GST to suit the present needs. The CM appealed to bankers to become partners of the P-4 programme launched by the state government to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.

Bankers' meetings, he said, should be result-oriented. Citing the example of delay in the Kharif season loans to farmers, he said half of the Kharif season has been completed and the banks should have given loans to farmers by this time. “There is no use in sanctioning loans at the end of the crop season.”

Naidu appealed to the bankers to extend cooperation through funding for the infrastructure and irrigation projects taken up by the state government.

He said that the government was planning to develop AP as a logistics hub to reduce logistics cost from the present 14 per cent to a single digit. Projects, including the development of ports, have been taken up at a cost of Rs 3 lakh crore under the PPP mode.

The Chief Minister requested the bankers not to trouble Amaravati farmers in extending loans on their returnable plots. Bankers should give priority to extend loans to the poor and weaker sections in addition to farmers and tenant farmers.