Banks complete first phase of financial inclusion

Commercial banks have achieved the target of providing banking outlets to all villages in Karnataka, with a population of over 2,000 people. Till now, the banks have covered 3,395 such embanked villages by providing outlets, of which brick and mortar branches have been opened in 402 villages in the first phase under the financial inclusion scheme.

Announcing this at the 125th meeting of State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) in Bangalore on Wednesday, Sudhir Kumar Jain, chairman and managing director of Syndicate Bank and Chairman of SLBC said banks have provided outlets only in 3,862 villages in the second phase, against the target of 13,684 villages.

He requested the participating banks to provide banking outlets in the remaining villages at an early date.

Electronic benefit transfer (EBT) scheme is being implemented in seven districts on a pilot basis under the terms of a MoU entered into with the government of Karnataka. Jain requested all the participating banks to complete the task of opening of accounts and issuing Smart Cards to all enrolled beneficiaries.

Following the guidelines from the government of India, Jain said the state government and bankers have decided to implement the Aadhaar-based Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG (DBTL) scheme in 21 districts. The scheme has already been implemented in four districts - Mysore, Tumkur, Dharwad and Udupi districts.

While DBTL would be launched in Uttara Kannada and Gadag on November 1, it would take off in six districts on December 1 and 13 districts on January 1, 2014.

The scheme would be implemented in six districts of Haveri, Bangalore Urban, Koppal, Bidar, Davanagere and Bijapur from November 1, Karnataka Rajyostava Day.

It will be launched on Jan 1 in Chikkaballapur, Belgaum, Bangalore Rural, Bagalkot, Chikmagalur, Gulbarga, Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Bellary, Kolar, Ramanagaram, and Chamarajangar.

Jain said awareness has been created among LPG consumers on the importance of account opening and Aadhaar seeding. "We will write to the oil marketing companies and LPG distribution agencies to intimate banks about the progress of DBTL among their respective customers," he said.

So far, the Banks have opened 96,864 accounts, issued 32,031 Debit Cards and seeded with Aadhaar numbers for 63,998 accounts and mapped 55,285 accounts with NPCI Mapper under DBT scheme.

The Government of India has commenced DBT (LPG) Scheme in Udupi & Dharwad Districts, with effect from October 1, 2013.

Jain also informed that under Bhoomi-Bank Integration, the Banks have carried out 91,492 online transactions up to October 1, 2013, of which 52,798 transactions relate to the current fiscal.

He requested the state government to integrate the "Kaveri" project with the "Bhoomi" project so that mortgage transactions can also be carried out through single window approach.

Commenting on the implementation of Annual Credit Plan 2013-14 in Karnataka, he said that Banks have disbursed Rs 14,674 crore under Priority Sector Credit against annual target of Rs 73,362 crore, thereby recording an achievement level of 20 per cent. Under agriculture sector, Banks have disbursed Rs 9,595 crore, of which the share of Crop Production loan was Rs 6,956 crore.