(a) whether Public Sector Banks are required to lend minimum of one percent of their
aggregate advance to the poor and the SCs and STs under Differential Rate of Interest
(DRI) scheme;
(b) if so, the advances made by each public sector banks under this scheme during the
last three years;
(c) the names of the banks, who have not achieved their target;
(d) the reasons for not achieving the target; and
(e) the remedial measures taken by the Government in this regard?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI BALASAHEB VIKHE PATH):
(a) Yes, Sir. Under DRI scheme, introduced in 1972, bank-wise targets are fixed and banks
are required to lend 1% of their aggregate advances outstanding as at the end of the
previous year.
(b) The bank-wise details of advances outstanding and percentage of DRI advances to
total advances for the last three years are indicated in the statement enclosed.
(c) and (d) All the banks are not able to fulfill the target, as the DRI scheme is an
interest subsidy scheme whereas subsequently several Government sponsored capital subsidy
scheme such as Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana, Prime Minister`s Rozgar Yojana,
Swarnajayanti Shahari RozgarYojana, Scheme of Liberation & Rehabilitation of Scavengers
have been introduced which offer higher quantum of loan amounts and larger capital
subsidies and are more attractive for borrowers.
(e) With a view to improve the lending under DRI scheme, the Reserve Bank of India has
urged all Public Sector Banks to re-emphasise an urgent need for concerted efforts to
improve the performance in implementation of the scheme. The banks have been asked to
take immediate steps to improve the banks` performance of disbursal of loan under DRI
scheme.