CS pushes for swift claim settlements, financial inclusion of all in J&K

SRINAGAR : Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, on Tuesday chaired a comprehensive review meeting to assess the implementation status of various financial inclusion and social security schemes of the Government of India being executed through banks and financial institutions in J&K.
Besides Principal Secretary, APD and Principal Secretary, Finance Departments, the meeting was attended by MD, J&K Bank; Commissioner Secretary, Social Welfare; Commissioner Secretary, Tourism; Secretary, Revenue; Secretary, RDD; MD, JKRLM; Convenor, UTLBC; representatives from NABARD, SIDBI and other banks operating here.
The meeting focused on the progress under major schemes including Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Atal Pension Yojana (APY), saturation of unbanked rural areas, priority sector lending, credit flow to MSMEs, agriculture sector initiatives including Kisan Credit Cards (KCC), and skilling interventions undertaken through Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) established in the UT.
While reviewing the current status of population coverage under these schemes, the Chief Secretary also took stock of the compliance on earlier directions issued to financial institutions. He directed the concerned agencies to ensure saturation of all identified unbanked rural centres before the stipulated deadline of June this year.
Stressing on the need for prompt and efficient claim settlements, Dulloo observed that the success of these social security schemes should be judged not merely by the number of beneficiaries enrolled, but also by the speed and effectiveness of claim settlements.
He emphasized that financial institutions must instill confidence in public by providing full assistance in processing and settling their genuine claims, and proactively reaching out to families, especially in case of the death of insured members, to ensure timely support.
To ensure the schemes reach the most deserving, the Chief Secretary directed for the inclusion of Self Help Group (SHG) members registered with JKRLM and their families under all applicable social security schemes. He also instructed for coverage of registered building and construction workers under Atal Pension Yojana, with the premium to be borne by the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board here.
Dulloo also called for formulation of a focused strategy to enhance credit flow under the priority and MSME sectors, ensuring that all banks meet the targets assigned to them. He also enquired about the progress in rolling out the ‘Gramin Credit Score’ system for agricultural lending on the lines of the CIBIL score used for individual borrowers.
The Chief Secretary also reviewed IT-enabled financial interventions such as the distribution of RuPay Debit Cards under PMJDY and Smart Cards for KCC beneficiaries. He assessed progress made in designing loan products to promote High-Density Plantation, rural homestays, and properties identified under the Svamitva Yojana.
Further, he sought an update on the Credit Grievance Redressal Portal, being developed for the convenience of all bank customers in the UT. He was informed that the portal is ready for launch and will soon be made operational to facilitate efficient resolution of customer grievances.
During the meeting, Principal Secretary, Finance, Santosh D. Vaidya, highlighted the noteworthy performance of J&K Bank, stating that it had achieved an 11% year-on-year growth in its business, significantly reduced its Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) to 3.37%, and brought down its cost-to-income ratio to 58% from the earlier 71%. He appreciated the bank administration for these achievements and termed the performance as satisfactory and commendable.
Managing Director, J&K Bank, Amitava Chatterjee, also shared important statistics on the implementation of social security schemes across the UT. As the lead bank and Convenor of UTLBC, he detailed the bank’s efforts to popularize financial inclusion schemes and expand credit outreachto the priority sectors.
He pointed out that the latest statistics clearly reflect significant improvement over the figures presented in the previous review meeting held under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary. He pointed out that the UT has recorded significant strides in financial inclusion and social welfare coverage as per the performance data for various centrally sponsored schemes thereby highlighting the growing participation of citizens and strong involvement by banking institutions here.
In its presentation the Convenor UTLBC, Rayees Maqbool revealed that J&K currently hosts2,197 brick-and-mortar bank branches in addition to 5,135 Banking Correspondents (BCs) and a network of 2,661 ATMs operated by 37 banks and financial institutions ensuring that one banking touch point is available per 1,227 of population.
The meeting was apprised that efforts are underway to fully cover the remaining 21 URCs identified by RBI here under tier 5 areas (population under 5,000) with banking touch points. It was given out that 150 additional Gram Panchayats are scheduled to be covered by May 15, 2025, by J&K Bank.
Regarding the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), an accident insurance scheme for citizens aged 18–70 years saw 6.04 lakh enrollments during FY 2024–25; reaching the cumulative coverage of 23.57 lakh beneficiaries in the UT.
About the performance J&K Bank had registered 2.29 lakh accounts, SBI (1.27 lakh), and HDFC Bank (39,096) with 285 claims settled with Rs. 5.69 Cr disbursed during the year.
With respect to Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY)offering life insurance for citizens aged 18–50years an impressive number of 2.47 lakh new enrolments were done during the previous financial year with cumulative coverage reached 9.67 lakh and settlement of 668 claims with Rs. 13.34 Cr disbursed during the previous financial year.
Atal Pension Yojana (APY)targeting unorganized workers also registered an significant progress with 24,230 new account openings, cumulatively reaching 2.48 lakh accounts since inception.
As far as the priority sector lending is concerned under the Annual Credit Plan 2024–25, J&K’s banks collectively achieved 92% of the credit disbursement target, totaling Rs. 36,575 Cr. J&K Bank emerged as the top contributor, surpassing targets at 139% for physical targets and 134% in credit volume. The Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector absorbed Rs. 22,688 Cr, accounting for 62% of priority sector lending. A total of 2.96 lakh accounts were supported with J&K Bank leading the table with Rs. 5,537 Cr disbursements in this sector.
The meeting was informed that the agriculture sector too received focused attention with Rs. 6,430 Cr disbursement out of a target of Rs. 11,056 Cr, achieving nearly 58% of the set goal.
Under PM Mudra and PM Vishwakarma Yojana aiming at empowering the entrepreneurs as on March 31, 2025substantial disbursements were made under Shishu, Kishor, and Tarun categories providing support to small entrepreneurs, women, and youth-led micro businesses
It was added that under PM Vishwakarma Yojana, growing traction was observed across various trades. The RSETI performance in skilling of rural masses (since 2009) depicted training of 1,07,672 trainees, and starting of 78,059 ventures (72.5%), and nearly 50% beneficiaries availing bank credit to start their respective enterprises.