In a review meeting with public sector banks and other financial institutions, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee asked them to increase lending to the employment-generating sectors in the second half of the fiscal.

He added that the credit flow to agriculture and small and medium enterprises should top their priority list. The growth rate of advances to SMEs has been about 13% for the last six months which needs to be improved in view of the target of 20% on year-on-year growth in flow of credit said the minister to the bankers at the meeting, which was also attended by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and senior finance ministry.