The latest banking data presented at the 154th State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) meeting in Tripura has shown strong overall credit expansion during the financial year 2025-26, but concerns continue to remain over weak lending performance in agriculture and priority sectors, especially by Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and private banks. The SLBC meeting was convened by Punjab National Bank, the convener bank for Tripura. According to the agenda notes presented during the meeting, Public Sector Banks (PSBs) recorded a major rise in Annual Credit Plan (ACP) achievement. The total ACP achievement of PSBs increased from Rs 2,72,190.95 lakh in September 2024 to Rs 3,88,214.73 lakh in September 2025, marking a year-on-year growth of 43 percent. Cooperative banks and RRBs also reported growth of 16 percent and 21 percent respectively, while private banks registered a comparatively lower growth rate of 10 percent despite having larger lending targets.
However, the data also highlighted several weaknesses in developmental and rural banking performance across the state. Agriculture lending remained one of the weakest areas across almost all banking categories. PSBs achieved only 36 percent of their agriculture lending target in FY 2025-26, down from 39 percent in the previous financial year. Private banks remained stagnant at 35 percent achievement despite enhanced targets. Banking observers said the figures indicate that credit flow to farmers and allied agricultural sectors continues to remain below expectations even as agriculture remains central to Tripura’s rural economy. Although RRBs showed slight improvement in agricultural lending, with achievement rising from 35 percent to 38 percent, their overall Total Priority Sector lending performance declined from 36 percent to 33 percent. This decline has raised concern because RRBs are primarily meant to strengthen rural credit systems and support weaker economic sections in villages and semi-urban areas.
The report also pointed to sharp fluctuations in the “Other Priority Sector” category. Private banks recorded a steep fall in achievement percentage from 184 percent in FY 2024-25 to only 27 percent in FY 2025-26. The segment also saw a negative year-on-year growth of 43 percent.Similarly, RRBs recorded a negative growth of 38 percent in the same category, indicating inconsistency in credit planning and implementation.In contrast, the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector showed improvement across banking institutions. PSBs increased MSME achievement from 55 percent to 61 percent, while private banks improved from 73 percent to 76 percent. RRBs also registered growth from 22 percent to 35 percent.Officials and analysts said the improvement in MSME lending reflects growing support for entrepreneurship and small business development in Tripura, which is considered important for employment generation and local economic activity.The data further showed a clear gap between lending to priority and non-priority sectors. PSBs achieved 65 percent in non-priority sector lending compared to 56 percent in total priority sector lending. Private banks also remained below expectations in agriculture and rural lending segments. Experts said the trend suggests that banks continue to prefer commercially safer loans over socially important sectors such as agriculture and rural development.
