Agartala, Sep 6 - Micro-finance and banking support to self-help groups (SHGs) could help financial empowerment in the north-east, according to Tripura Finance Minister Badal Chowdhury.

'The SHG movement promises to be an attractive income generation option in the north-eastern states, but the desired level of support from the banks and financial institutions is lagging,' Chowdhury said here in an address at a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seminar over the weekend.

As part of its platinum jubilee celebrations, the RBI has been organising programmes such as seminars, awareness campaigns and financial outreach camps across the country to intensify the process of financial inclusion.

The Agartala programme was part of this initiative.

Asking RBI to take necessary steps to step up micro credit and lending to priority sectors, Chowdhury said: 'Flow of credit from nationalised banks should reach at a reasonable level in the north-eastern region.'

Chowdhury said that at a meeting at Shillong in 2001, it was decided that the credit-deposit (CD) ratio in the north-eastern region would be increased to the national average of 58 percent from standing at 30 percent in the next three years.