Finance minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav speaks (left) at a state-level bankers’ committee meeting in Patna on Wednesday. He exhorted banks to strengthen accountability and achieve their target. Principal secretary, finance, Rameshwar Singh and agriculture minister Narendra Singh (right) were also present at the 49th quarterly meeting . Bijendra said: “The credit-deposit ratio is okay in the first quarter given the scenario, especially the Lok Sabha elections, but there is a need to pay attention on each sector for further improvement.” The credit-deposit ratio is the ratio of how much a bank lends out of the deposits it has mobilised. It indicates how much of a bank’s core funds are being used for lending. A higher ratio indicates more reliance on deposits for lending and vice-versa. Bijendra expressed dissatisfaction over banks’ failure to open ultra-small branches and regular branches in 2,943 villages with population over 5,000. According to the committee report, such branches have been opened in just 1,694 villages till June 2014, he added. Picture by Ashok Sinha