Scindia calls for faster tailored credit flow to Northeastern states at bankers' conclave

Aizawl: Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday called for faster credit flow to the Northeast, urging financial institutions to develop products tailored to the region's needs.

Addressing the Northeast Bankers' Conclave at Mizoram University, Scindia said the programme, organised by his DoNER Ministry in collaboration with the North Eastern Development Finance Corporation (NEDFi), aimed at ensuring that the banking and financial sectors serve the region better, faster and closer.

He said the Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Ministry did not see the conclave as an annual ritual but a "scorecard" to assess what had been achieved and what more needed to be done.


While the last conclave in Agartala focused on building infrastructure, the present deliberations centred on how to make credit available to all those in need, he said.

"An important message that came out of the Agartala conclave was that a single type of stereotyped package will not work for the Northeastern region," Scindia said, stressing the need to understand the requirements of individual states and customise banking products accordingly.

He said the Rising Northeast Summit held last year generated investment commitments of nearly Rs 4.3 lakh crore, of which around Rs 40,000 crore has been grounded after continued follow-up by his ministry.

"This investment appetite is what needs a response from the banking community," Scindia said, adding that much more needs to be done to translate investment commitments into actual projects.

Referring to the North Eastern Council's plenary meeting last year, he said high-level task forces headed by chief ministers were constituted to prepare roadmaps for the region's development.

Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma, who headed the task force on the North Eastern Economic Corridor, had contributed a document containing several investment ideas and projects, he said.

Among the proposals were an integrated multimodal mobility corridor, an aviation hub and a Northeast tourism circuit, he said.

"These ideas require our continued support and our strenuous efforts to ensure that adequate capital flows in this direction," he said.

Scindia also noted the ministry's efforts to identify the unique economic drivers of each Northeastern state, saying these state-specific strengths could generate economic growth, public welfare and livelihood opportunities.

He said that the day-long deliberations would seek to identify specific investment and credit opportunities and prepare a granular roadmap for improving the flow of credit to the region.

"We need to get very granular so that as we go forward in the next few months, we are able to look at convergence and actual flow of credit into the region," he said.