Dikhyaa Mohanty 
To increase credit flow in priority sector, Chief Minister’s Award for Best Performing Banks in Priority Sector Lending is institutionalised in the State.
The Chief Minister’s Awards is given to banks each year in the following three categories: (i) Champion Banks for the cause of Farmers. (ii) Champion Banks for the cause of Small Entrepreneurs. (iii) Champion Banks for the cause of Women SHGs.
Cash award of Rs. 5.00 lakh, Rs. 3.00 lakh and Rs. 2.00 lakh are given to the first, second and third best performing banks respectively in each of the three sectors every year.
The award is open to all public sector and private sector banks as well as cooperative and small finance banks operating in the State. The award is decided on the basis of some objective criteria, such as, number of beneficiaries covered, amount of credit advanced, amount of interest subvention etc.
CM’s award to the Best Performing Banks in Priority Sector Lending is the First of its kind in the country where bank branches are awarded from Flon’ble CM for their remarkable contribution to priority sector lending. It Is the unique initiative of our Govt, to incentivise banks to boost credit flow to priority sector.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had presented the CM’s Award to the 9 Champion banks in Priority Sector Lending for FY 2020-21 on 25.05.2022 in a State Level Meeting organized by Finance Department.
