MP receives SKOCH Financial Inclusion and Deepening Award

Madhya Pradesh has been adjudged the 'Best State' at the SKOCH Financial Inclusion and Deepening Award-2014 function.

The state was honoured with the 'SKOCH Order of Merit Certificate' at a function held yesterday in New Delhi, an official release issued here said.

Madhya Pradesh's Additional Chief Secretary Aruna Sharma received the award from BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi and former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai.

The State has written a new chapter of progress through inclusive growth in rural areas. Special attention has been paid to availability of banking services in remote rural area. Economic uplift can be ensured only through financial inclusion, it said.

According to the statement, ultra small banks are being opened in the radius of every five kms in rural areas of the state.

So far, 2,200 ultra small banks have been opened in Madhya Pradesh with transactions worth over Rs 1,500 crore taking place in them, it said.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in January this year also released a report on the unique model praising it as the best innovation in direction of good governance.

Speaking on the occasion Sharma said that giving priority to financial inclusion, 14,787 villages were identified for financial inclusion, where people had to travel 20-90 kms to avail banking services, release said.