New Delhi: In a bid to achieve 7-8 per cent economic growth, President A P J Abdul Kalam today (Nov 10, 2004) spelt out a six-point mission for the banking sector, including more than doubling of the farm credit and participating in infrastructure development.

Inaugurating the first-ever bankers' conference 'Bancon', Kalam said banks should raise agricultural and agro-processing credit to Rs 2,00,000 crore from the existing Rs 90,000 crore within the next three years.

Kalam, who was one of the directors on the Reserve Bank board before becoming the country's President, asked banks to create and nurture five rural development projects similar to bio-fuel project so as to create additional employment for at least 10 million youth.

Apart from participating in infrastructure development, including provision of 100 million quality dwelling units, he said the banks must innovatively fund three lakh sick small-scale units to enable them to adopt the latest technology and overcome the problems to become profitable.