Shimla, Dec 27 (IANS): More than 20,000 direct benefit transfer transactions amounting to Rs.17.47 crore have been carried out in Himachal Pradesh, acting Chief Secretary P. Mitra said here Friday.

The beneficiaries receive subsidy benefit directly in their bank accounts.

Mitra said that by January next year, direct benefit transfer for liquefied petroleum gas would be rolled out as sufficient number of Aadhaar cards were linked to bank accounts of consumers in 11 select districts of the state.

Presiding over the 130th state-level bankers' committee meeting, Mitra said banks have added 28 new branches during the second quarter that ended in September.

Based on the 2011 census data, the state has per branch population coverage of 4,019, a good indicator of availability of banking services.

He said the number of automated teller machines have also increased to 1,056 till September.

UCO Bank Executive Director S. Chandrashekharan said the September 2013 data show banks in the state have achieved 22.46 percent rise in advances portfolio against the September 2012 figures under which priority sector advances constitute about 68 percent.

He said total deposits of the banks have grown 18.84 percent over the corresponding period.

Chandrashekharan said position of non-performing assets of banks in the state have declined to 5.53 percent of the total advances as of September 2013 from 6.11 percent as of June this year.