Bihar not to deposit funds in 21 banks

Patna, Aug 21 (IANS) The Bihar government will not deposit funds in 21 nationalized and private banks for their failure to provide credit to priority sectors like agriculture, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi announced Tuesday.

"A decision has been taken not to deposit government funds in 21 banks on the basis of their poor performance to provide credit," Modi, who holds the finance portfolio, said at a press conference here.

He said the state government will also soon withdraw its deposits in these banks.

According to Modi, from April 1, 2012, the state introduced a system to deposit funds in the banks which would meet the credit criteria in priority sectors and improving credit deposit ratio (CDR).