KOLKATA: The state-level bankers’ committee (SLBC) has set a target of ₹2 lakh crore credit line to West Bengal’s micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector for the current fiscal.Speaking on the sidelines of a programme on financial inclusion in West Bengal in Kolkata, Balbir Singh, General Manager of Punjab National Bank and convenor of SLBC in the state, said: “We have set a ₹2 lakh crore credit target for the MSME sector in 2025–26.” He also said that they envisaged a 15 per cent credit growth in the agriculture sector in the state.Singh informed that the SLBC had achieved credit disbursement of ₹1.8 lakh crore to the MSME sector in West Bengal in 2024–25. In agriculture, banks disbursed ₹1 lakh crore during the same period, which is expected to rise to over ₹1.1 lakh crore in the current fiscal.The credit to self-help groups will also be increased to ₹35,000 crore this fiscal from ₹30,000 crore in 2024–25.West Bengal is home to around 45 lakh registered MSME units, accounting for seven per cent of the total registered MSMEs in the country.Singh also said that the credit-deposit (CD) ratio, one of the indicators of financial strength, in West Bengal was 70 per cent, which is significantly higher than the minimum required CD ratio of 40 per cent. However, in 14 districts, the CD ratio of banks was much lower than the state average. He added that two districts—Kolkata and Cooch Behar—recorded a CD ratio of more than 100 per cent.
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