Demonetisation woes: Odisha demands mobile banking in unbanked areas

With over 70 per cent of Odisha's gram panchayats bereft of a bank branch, chief minister Naveen Patnaik has pressed on the need for mobile banking services in unrepresented regions to cope up with the demonetisation crisis.

In a letter to Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, Patnaik said, "Apart from relaxations in withdrawals for government disbursements like old age pensions which the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has facilitated, I would also request you to request RBI and other banks to urgently provide mobile banking services or to set up temporary counters in unbanked gram panchayats. The state government will provide requisite support and infrastructure for this purpose."

Odisha has 6,238 gram panchayats and about 4,400 of them do not have a bank branch. Around 16 million people or nearly 40 per cent of the rural population in the state do not have access to proper banking facilities.

After recalling of old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations, Patnaik had raised concern over timely payment of wages in case of government pro-poor schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) where payments are electronically transferred to the beneficiary accounts.