Coimbatore, March 11 (UNI) Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said the Public Sector Banks (PSBs) would be able to bring down the Net Non Performing Assets (NPA) to below 0.5 per cent within next few years.

Inaugurating the Indian Overseas Bank(IOB)'s new branch at Vadavalli near here, he said at present the net NPA in PSBs is 1.3 per cent and efforts were on to bring it down to one per cent by next year. For the last three consecutive years the GDP growth was 8.6 per cent and it would touch nine per cent in the current fiscal year, he added.

Mr Chidambaram said the banks disbursed Rs 1.86 lakh crore agricultural loan in the last two years. For the next year, a target of Rs 2.25 lakh crore had been kept in the agricultural loan sector, he added.

He said the IOB, Coimbatore Zone had disbursed agricultural loan for Rs 170 crore as on March 2006. During the 11 month of the current fiscal, the bank had disbursed Rs 213 crore as loan, he added.

Stating that the PSBs were providing various loans to Self Help Groups (SHGs), he said at present 26 lakh SHGs were existing in the country and it is increasing by five lakh group every year. The repayment of loan from SHGs at present was 98 per cent and he urged them to touch 100 per cent.

UNI