Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today asked banks to step up lending activities and open more branches in the Eastern and Northeastern regions. He was talking to reporters in Patna after a meeting of public sector banks heads along with the chief ministers of the Eastern and North eastern states. <br/><br/>Mr Mukherji said, at the meeting, ways to improve credit-deposit ratio were also discussed, besides opening of more bank branches. The credit-deposit ratio of banks in the Eastern region is 40 per cent against the national average of 72 per cent. He said, the meeting also discussed state-wise Centrally-sponsored schemes which are implemented by the states with banks. These schemes include the Indira Awas Yojana, NREGA.