New Delhi : The volume of lending to the minority communities “soared” from Rs.4,000 crore to Rs.66,500 crore in the 10 years of the UPA rule, union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told the Lok Sabha while presenting the interim budget for 2014-15 Monday.

The finance minister said when the United Progressive Alliance government took office over 10 years ago, the minorities had 1,415,000 bank accounts in 121 districts of India where there is a concentration of minorities.

“At the end of March 2013, they had 4,352,000 accounts and the volume of lending had soared from Rs.4,000 crore to Rs.66,500 crore. Loans to minority communities in the whole country stood at Rs.211,451 crore at the end of December 2013,” he said.