'Banks to cover entire AP villages in one year'

In the first phase, RBI had asked banks to provide access to basic financial services to all households by opening savings accounts in villages having over 2,000 population

The three-year target for covering all the villages with banking services starting this year would be achieved within one year in Andhra Pradesh on the back of the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme, Andhra Bank chairman and managing director BA Prabhakar said on Tuesday.

In the first phase starting 2010-2013, the Reserve Bank of India had asked banks to provide access to basic financial services to all households by opening savings accounts in villages having over 2,000 population. All such villages numbering 6,640 rural habitations in the state have already been covered.

In the second phase (2013-16), the remaining 17,374 villages with under 2,000 population have to be covered. Of this, the banks have already covered 5,524 villages, according to him.

"What we had planned to cover in 3 years would be completed in one year which is going to be a tremendous achievement for the banks as well as the state of Andhra Pradesh," he said while speaking at a conclave on financial inclusion organised by Dun & Bradstreet India here on Tuesday.