Srinagar, June 7: The total outstanding advances to Small and Medium Enterprises sector in Jammu and Kashmir has moved from Rs 619.54 crore to Rs 1093.82 crore as on March 31 this year.

This was disclosed at the fourth meeting of Empowered Committee set up in the state to review stepping up the credit to SME.

The meeting was presided over by O P Aggarwal, Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India Jammu, who also informed of the policy decisions taken by RBI and Government of India and other developmental agencies concerning SME sector that had taken place since the last meeting.

“On one time settlement scheme, the banks were advised to renew their efforts in this regard and also ensure that the entrepreneurs who were desirous of availing fresh credit for the development of SMEs don’t feel handicapped in view of the old outstanding against them,” the RBI statement said.

Aggarwal said the new definition of micro, small and medium enterprises in consistent with MSMED Act, 2006 enacted by the Government of India as also of major changes in the revised priority sector guidelines issued by RBI.

The committees were also informed by Aggarwal about the clusters identified in the state and the banks were advised to review their institutional arrangements for delivering credit to SME sector in these clusters.

According to RBI statement, the chairman while discussing the achievement of banks in extending finance to SME sector in line with the measures announced by the Union Finance minister in the Parliament on August 10, 2005 for stepping up credit to SME, appreciated the performance of banks in accelerating the credit to this sector in Jammu and Kashmir.

Source: www.greaterkashmir.com