Odisha Chief Secretary urges banks to expand credit support for small, mid-sized industries

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Secretary Anu Garg on Tuesday called upon banks to strengthen credit support to promote the growth of small and mid-sized industries in the state.

Inaugurating the State Credit Seminar for 2026–27 organised by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Garg highlighted the existence of a “missing middle” in the MSME sector and stressed the need to bridge this gap through targeted financial assistance.

While appreciating the progress made in extending support to self-help groups (SHGs) and farmers, the Chief Secretary underlined the importance of helping them move to the next level of economic prosperity. “There must be focused efforts to graduate SHGs into small and medium enterprises and farmers into agripreneurs,” she said.

Garg also emphasised the need for closer coordination between banks and line departments to expedite credit flow for agri-infrastructure, warehousing, off-farm activities and women-led SHGs.

Highlighting the state government’s Vision 2036 blueprint, she sought the cooperation of all stakeholders to achieve the ambitious goal of transforming Odisha into a developed state by 2036 and a USD 1.5 trillion economy by 2047.

During the seminar, NABARD released the State Focus Paper (SFP), projecting a priority sector credit potential of ₹3.15 lakh crore for Odisha in the 2026–27 financial year. Of this, MSMEs account for the largest share at ₹1.52 lakh crore, followed by agriculture at ₹1.14 lakh crore. The remaining credit potential spans housing, education, renewable energy, social infrastructure, export credit and other sectors.

The seminar was chaired by the Chief Secretary and attended by Sanjeeb Kumar Mishra, Principal Secretary (Finance); Sarada Prasan Mohanty, Regional Director, RBI; A.D. Ratna Teja, Chief General Manager, SBI; and Goutam Patra, Chief General Manager, UCO Bank and Convenor, State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC), along with senior bank officials, state government representatives and other stakeholders.