Patna: Bihar has recorded a credit-deposit ratio of over 60.21% in the financial year 2025-26, crossing the 60% mark for the first time and setting a new benchmark in the state’s banking performance.The achievement was announced at a state-level banking review meeting chaired by development commissioner Mihir Kumar Singh, who said the milestone reflected stronger economic activity, rising investment and growing public confidence in the banking system.Singh said the improvement was the outcome of coordinated efforts by the state govt, banks and various departments. He reviewed the performance of banks in the state with a focus on loan disbursement, deposit growth and credit flow to priority sectors.Officials informed the meeting that total deposits in bank branches across Bihar rose to Rs 6,15,428 crore in 2025-26, while total loan disbursement increased to Rs3,70,563 crore. Compared with 2024-25, deposits grew by Rs 51,983 crore and loan disbursement rose by Rs37,882 crore.The state’s CD ratio has shown steady improvement over the years. It stood at 44.09% in 2018-19 and has now climbed to 60.21% in 2025-26. Singh said the rise in credit flow had given fresh momentum to sectors such as agriculture, MSMEs, self-employment, women’s empowerment, startups and rural development.He asked banks to pay special attention to increasing credit flow in agriculture and other priority sectors. Stressing the importance of the Kisan Credit Card scheme, Singh said timely loans to farmers remained a priority for the state govt and directed banks to simplify and speed up the process of KCC renewal and distribution.He also said chief minister Samrat Choudhary will launch “Sahyog Shivir” camps from Tuesday to address public grievances. The camps will be held every 15 days and will also take up banking-related issues, including KCC applications, renewals and other loan-related problems.The meeting decided to integrate the KCC scheme with the Jan Samarth portal to enable farmers to access faster and more transparent digital loan services.According to data presented at the meeting, the banks with the highest CD ratio in 2025-26 were State Co-operative Bank at 168.78%, Bandhan Bank at 153.32%, Bank of Maharashtra at 145.72%, HDFC Bank at 95.87% and Kotak Mahindra Bank at 95.57%.Banks with relatively low CD Ratios included Indian Overseas Bank at 42.20%, IDBI Bank at 43.47%, State Bank of India at 43.63%, Bank of India at 43.73% and Punjab National Bank at 44.57%.Senior officials of banks, representatives of the State Level Bankers’ Committee and departmental officers attended the meeting.