270
(xiii) Systematic Monitoring of Credit Guidelines
There have been a plethora of guidelines issued by the RBI and the
government but implementation has been truly weak and slack. There is,
therefore, the need for systematic monitoring of the effective implementation
of various guidelines, both at the level of the RBI and NABARD and also at
the individual bank levels. The RBI bestows enormous amount of efforts at
monitoring various prudential norms of banks and financial institutions;
it is necessary that the RBI assigns the same sanctity to the social goals
of banking operations. In this respect, it is easy for the RBI to enforce the
guidelines wherein there are quantitative targets to be achieved, ifit does apply
the required norm of sanctity. In the case of others where guidelines do not
indicate specific targets but only broad policy intentions, the RBI and NABARD
have to monitor the organisational arrangements including branch-spread
and manning of branches attempted by banks for effective implementation of
various guidelines.
(xiv) Need for Streamlining the Data Base on Agricultural Credit
Though incidental, it is necessary for NABARD and RBI to take a
fresh look at their data base on bank credit flows and outstandings against
agriculture. This is also related to the lackadaisical approach adopted in the
monitoring of credit targets and guidelines for agriculture and other informal
sectors. It is found by research scholars that the data on agricultural advances
as put out by NABARD and RBI tend to overstate amounts of the outstanding
credit when compared with the data obtained from the RBI’s
Basic Statistical
Returns
, which directly come from the branches and which are said to be more
reliable – an issue that has been highlighted earlier. It is known that the reported
data on agricultural advances are found to be faulty when they are subjected
to auditing which is a requirement for claiming government subvention for the
concessional interest rate provided to the farmers on bank loans. It is now
being admitted that probably the application of core banking solutions (CBSs)
may resolve some of the problems.
And there is considerable mix-up between direct agricultural credit and
indirect credit. Some definitive clarity is to be introduced in the data base on
agricultural credit in the country.
And when it comes to the data base on agricultural credit, co-operative
sector data leaves much to be desired: both in regard to timeliness and the
quality. This deserves to be pursued by NABARD much more vigorously so
that its publication
Statistical Tables Relating to Co-operative Movement
in India
(Credit and Non-Credit Societies), which provides both financial and
economic data on the co-operative sector, is brought out on time.
