Its good news for farmers, Vijaya bank a public sector bank has issued 2 lakh credit cards for kisan (farmers). This is the highest number of kisan credit cards issued in the country till date. During the year 2006 around 23900 kisan cards have been issued and around Rs. 134.23 have been disbursed to the farmers. Out of the total net credit 45.3 % accounted for the priority sector, making the total advances to this sector at somewhere around Rs. 7642 crore.
According to the Chairman and Managing director Prakash R Mallya, the bank is looking to raise the number of ATMs to 250 from the present 140. The bank has financed 60000 self help groups. Out of these 5000 were in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The average recovery rate is around 95 %. Out of the total profit of Rs.195 crore made by the bank in the first quarter Rs.172 was from the core banking operations.
