The Hindu : Business : SBT to assist over 20,000 self-help groups this fiscal year

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Friday, Jan 20, 2006

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SBT to assist over 20,000 self-help groups this fiscal year

Special Correspondent

The bank now supports 34,420 SHGs, constituted mostly by women

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State bank of Travancore (SBT) has assisted 20,858 self-help groups (SHGs) with a sum of Rs.68.98 crores so far during the current financial year, the bank said in a press release here on Wednesday.

The bank now supports 34,420 SHGs, formed mostly by women from impoverished families. The bank's total assistance to the SHGs now comes to the tune of Rs.132.85 crores. The bank considers this as a thrust area for its operations because of the scope the SHG concept offers to empower women and alleviate poverty.

In the rice belt of Kuttanad spanning parts of Alappuzha, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts, the SBT has launched a new scheme to finance paddy cultivation by tenant farmers. Fragmentation of landholdings that had taken place three-four decades ago has in the recent years accentuated the problems of the paddy cultivation sector in the State. A new trend is emerging in the sector, with some farmers taking on lease small adjoining landholdings of others to make the size of the area financially viable for independent operation.

However, since the title deeds of the leased areas are with others, the tenant farmers cannot take bank assistance under the usual stipulations.

The SBT has now waived its conditions to enable the tenant farmers also to take bank assistance. Landless farmers operating on leased fields too will benefit by this scheme called `Annapoorna Scheme,' the bank said.

Before the end of this financial year, the SBT proposes to add 89 more ATMs to its present network of 285 ATMs across the country.

Since the ATMs of the bank are part of a network of over 5,650 ATMs of the State Bank Group of banks, customers can now withdraw money from any part of the country without any additional charge, the bank said.

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