Southern states doing well in credit delivery: FM

New Delhi, Nov 20: Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said southern states were doing well in credit delivery and financial inclusion.

Addressing a press conference after a meeting with south zone Chief Ministers in Bangalore, he said in terms of flow of agriculture credit, education loans to students and credit to weaker sections, among others, southern states are doing better compared to some other parts of the country.

For instance, he said, there are deficiencies in northern states in this regard which the Government is trying to correct, but did not elaborate.

"But in southern states, comparatively, these heads are showing good performance", Chidambaram said.

The Minister had also held a meeting with North Zone Chief Ministers a few days ago.

Chief Ministers Jagadish Shettar (Karnataka), N Kiran Kumar Reddy (Andhra Pradesh) and N Rangasamy (Puducherry) attended the deliberations, while Tamil Nadu and Kerala were represented by their Finance Ministers O Panneerselvam and K M Mani, respectively.

"Broadly the conclusion is that southern states are doing very well in terms of credit delivery and expansion of banking network. They are doing very well in financial inclusion", Chidambaram added.

He also said that "part-answer" to the slowdown of the economy is to accelerate the flow of credit.

Chidambaram said representatives from states and banks as well as top officials who took part in the interaction, were sensitised on the Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) which will be rolled out in 51 districts across 16 states from 1st January next year in the first phase.

All cash and subsidy are proposed to be transferred to beneficiaries under the EBT.