Door-to-door banking service in UP soon

Financial inclusion road map to provide services in villages with over 2,000 people

Villages across Uttar Pradesh have a reason to cheer. The state’s financial inclusion road map is being readied, allowing villages with a population of 2,000 or more to be provided with banking services.

The services would be dispensed via outlets, mobile vans, smart cards and correspondents.

The first phase of the plan, where at least one member of a family will be provided with a bank account, is nearing completion.

“Only 4-5 districts remain to be brought entirely under the first phase. The target will be achieved soon,” Bank of Baroda (BoB) General Manager S C Ahuja told Business Standard.

 

BoB is the convener of the State Level Bankers’ Committee.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had already relaxed norms related to setting up of bank branches in tier III and IV towns, an approval for which was not required.

Of the 60-odd new branches of BoB planned in UP, roughly half would be opened in the rural areas.

At present, UP has a network of almost 12,000 branches, including regional rural banks, public- and private-sector banks.

“Our focus is on increasing the rural penetration of banking services and almost all the new branches and initiatives are being planned in the tier III and IV towns,” Punjab National Bank (PNB) Deputy General Manager V P Jain said.

PNB is opening e-kiosks in rural areas to provide basic banking services. Under this plan, technology is hired from private technology partners and services are provided under the bank’s name.

The total agricultural advances as a percentage of total advances in UP is well above 30 per cent, against the RBI benchmark of 18 per cent. In consolidated terms, the priority sector advances are also above 60 per cent, against a benchmark of 40 per cent.