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RBI also strikes out Sikhs from
'minority' list
WSN Exclusive
 Chandigarh:
Weeks before the Punjab and Haryana High Court said Sikhs weer not a
minority in Punjab, the Reserve Bank of India, India's federal bank,
has already told all Indian banks not to consider the Sikhs a
minority in the state of Punjab anymore for the purpose of granting
priroty sector loans.
Also, the banks will not consider the Muslims a minority in Kashmir.
Even as the UPA Government on an initiative by Congress president
Sonia Gandhi ensured that the RBI included ‘minority communities’ in
the list of ‘weaker sections’ for the purpose of priority-sector
lending by banks, Sikhs will not be in it. Domestic banks, both
government-owned and private, are mandated to lend 10% of the their
total loans to ‘weaker sections’.
RBI said banks can decide on the minority-community beneficiaries on
the basis of the demography of the respective state. So Christians
also will not be a minority anymore in Mizoram, Sikkim and Nagaland.
Domestic banks are required to give 40% of their total loans to
priority sectors, which include agriculture, housing, small-scale
industries and weaker sections. While the agriculture sector
constitutes half of the priority-sector lending or 20% of the total
bank loans, weaker sections are mandated to be given 25% of the
total priority-sector loans or 10% of the total bank loans.
In 2006-07, commercial banks gave Rs 4,10,285 crore as loans.
According to RBI guidelines, out of this, around Rs 35,000 crore
would have been given to weaker sections, which would be a little
less than 10% of the total credit, said a banker. This is because
foreign banks are not mandated to give loans to weaker sections from
their total prioritysector lending requirements of 32% of their
total credit.
So far, the SGPC and the Akali Dal have been silent on the issue.
19 December, 2007
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