Goa needs to improve credit-deposit ratio, financial literacy among educated: Sawant

Panaji: Chief minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday called for improving Goa’s credit-deposit (CD) ratio and strengthening financial literacy, especially among educated professionals, while praising banks for achieving 91% of their annual credit distribution target.

Addressing the 133rd State Level Bankers’ Committee meeting, Sawant said Goa’s CD ratio improved from 34.17% in Dec 2025 to 34.62% in March 2026.

“The improvement is encouraging, but we want to improve it further,” said Sawant, who also holds the finance portfolio.

The chief minister said Goa has 819 bank branches serving a population of around 17 lakh, with banking coverage now extended to all villages.

Further, Sawant urged banks to focus on last-mile banking, MSMEs, women- and youth-led entrepreneurship, green financing and digital banking. “The increase in credit flow reflects growing entrepreneurial activity,” he said.

Highlighting concerns over cyber frauds and digital banking risks, Sawant said financial literacy programmes should also target professionals and college students.

“Even well-educated people often lack practical financial literacy,” he said, urging banks to conduct more awareness programmes in colleges and professional institutes.

The chief minister also asked banks to introduce schemes promoting solar energy adoption in the state.