Regional Rural Banks demand autonomy

The All India Regional Rural Bank Employees' Association (AIRRBEA) on Sunday demanded the de-linking of the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) from the commercial banks sponsoring them.

The association has also pitched for setting up of the proposed National Rural Bank of India (NRBI), an apex body of the RRBs.

“After three decades, the RRBs have definitely attained enough maturity to run themselves effectively and independently without the support of their sponsoring banks”, said Dilip Kumar Mukherjee, general secretary, AIRRBEA. “The RRBs must be given full autonomy and adequate manpower to meet the targets of financial inclusion and branch expansion and also to implement all government programmes meant for the rural poor”, he told Business Standard.

Mukherjee was here to attend the two-day conference of the All Orissa Gramya Bank Employees’ Federation which concluded on Sunday. The conference was opened by S N Patra, the state minister for revenue and disaster management.

Presently, there are 84 RRBs having 15,107 branches covering 615 districts across the country with a total business of Rs 1, 87,013 crore.

The proposed apex body of the RRBs can take care of the entire gamut of micro finance and government sponsored schemes for the rural mass, particularly for the rural poor as suggested twice by a Parliamentary Standing Committee. The AIRRBEA took a swipe at the Reserve Bank of India’s recent policy on branch expansion.

“While the RBI is allowing the commercial banks to open their branches at any town in the name of financial inclusion, the branch expansion has been restricted in case of the RRBs. The association has decided to organize a massive dharana in front of the Parliament in New Delhi on December 8 in protest against the RBI's policy”, he said.

The representatives of all the 84 RRBs across the country would congregate in front of the Parliament house and would stage a day-long dharana, demanding fulfillment of their demands, he stated.