Bank relief measures

It is more than two months that life remains paralyzed in the valley as a result of call given for total strike by Kashmir seditionists.
Impact of two month-long strike has been very adverse on the economy of the valley. With the valley economy, other regions of the State, meaning Jammu, Ladakh and even Punjab are also linked because ours is an integrated economy. Therefore loss in economic terms impacts other regions as well. There are varying reports of the quantum of economic loss suffered by the valley for each day of strike. Sedition leadership calling for strike in order to meet their political designs, do not consider or cannot consider the loss in terms of economy because they are not conversant with the science of economy and its relation to labour. Salaried segment may not have that big impact but the labour class, the wage earners, the shopkeepers, skilled labourers and bread winners are the foremost to bear the brunt of strikes and shut downs. Transporters and small scale entrepreneurs and contractors, small scale shopkeepers and builders and thousands of ordinary people usually obtain loans from the banks to run their small business or meet the immediate requirements like house loans, educational loans, medical care loans etc. Of course the Government has made loans taking very simple because it wants to generate economy. Now these small entrepreneurs need peace time so that they get the returns for partly repaying the loans and partly meeting their day to day expenditures of their households. Owing to shut down and strikes, they do not earn anything as they are paralyzed and at the same time the interest on borrowings is accumulating day after day. This has made their situation very difficult.
It is in this background that the Reserve Bank of India, on being approached by the State Government has considered the matter of how some sort of relief can be given to the borrowers so that they are able to sustain their small business and not fall apart. As we understand there are some rules and regulations with the RBI which take into consideration the relief to the borrowers in areas that are disturbed and in turmoil. Invoking those provisions, a special meeting of J&K State Level Bankers Committee (J&K SLBC) was held at Srinagar under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary, B R Sharma to discuss the issue of continued disturbances in Kashmir valley and its adverse impact on the working of banks operating in the State and seek intervention of State Government for declaring the affected districts as riot/disturbance hit so that relief package under Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines can be extended to all the borrowers affected directly or indirectly in the State. Since nearly 10 districts in Kashmir and 3 districts in Jammu region are involved in financial and economic stress owing to disturbed conditions, the decision has been taken to constitute District Consultative Committee meetings of the respective districts to be headed by concerned Deputy Commissioners. These Committees will prepare details of identifying the districts where relief could be extended after proper study and recommendations are made. SLBC has advised all the banks operating in Jammu and Kashmir to furnish district-wise/sector wise data relating to the loans and advances of banks that have been impacted by the prevailing disturbances to the concerned Lead District Managers.
This is a very positive and helpful step taken by the banking service at a critical time in Kashmir. The affected people would not have asked for any relief or concession if conditions had not turned unfavourable in the Valley. In a welfare state such measures go a long way in re-establishing the trust of the people in regional banks. Thirteen districts in the Valley and three districts in Jammu will be brought under purview of this facility. The three districts in Jammu region, namely Jammu, Samba and Kathua are included among the beneficiaries because maximum industries are located in these districts and the economy is linked to the valley business climate. The small or big industrialists in these three districts have also suffered the impact of disturbance in the Valley. It is in fitness of things that these have also been included to receive the relief concession.

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