Haryana FM appeals to banks to realise PM's banking dream

Haryana Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu today appealed to bankers to help realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of transforming the economy into a developed one by opening a branch in each village of the state with population of up to 5,000 by March 31, 2017.
The state government will provide all necessary facilities such as infrastructure to banks for this purpose, he promised.
The minister was speaking at the 138th meeting of the State Level Bankers Committee here today.
He expressed gratitude to bankers for providing "exemplary services" to people under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar-linking of bank accounts and in the period following demonetisaton of high-denomination currency notes.

He said the fruits of this decision will be visible in the form of economic reforms by December 30, 2016 as cashless transactions will prevail in the country.
According to Captain Abhimanyu, the government has created history by taking the decision to demonetise old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes and the youth is aware of it.

The minister also urged the bankers to provide "a courteous atmosphere" to the people visiting the bank for the first time so as to win their trust.
He also suggested providing micro ATMs at petrol pumps, panchayat bhawans and other secure places. He cited the example of a village here 476 new accounts were opened at the bank on a single day and about Rs 1.5 crore were deposited in these accounts.

He also sought assistance from National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in achieving the Prime Minister's target of doubling the income of farmers by 2022 by preparing programme for promotion of dairy farming, horticulture and food processing and organising a workshop in this regard.
He urged the bankers to provide loans to farmers on priority basis and nudged them to increase their cash reserve ratio.
Captain Abhimanyu made a reference to the implementation of the new Enterprises Promotion Policy-2015, as a result of which Haryana had moved from 15th to 5th position in terms of ease of doing business.

Earlier speaking on this occasion, RBI Regional Director Nirmal Chand said a total amount of Rs 1,400 crore was disbursed to banks in Haryana in the past few days after notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 were denotified.