GULBARGA: Gulbarga has become the second district in the country after Palakad in Kerala to be brought under the project launched by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for financial inclusion of all families in the district.

Director of the RBI Devaki Muthukrishnan, who announced this here recently, said that the RBI had selected the district for the financial inclusion programme by taking into account its backwardness. The objective of the programme was to bring all families under the banking network by enabling them to open "no frills" account with either nil or low minimum balance, she said.

She said that the State-level Bankers Committee meeting had entrusted the responsibility of "adopting" one district each to all public sector banks having lead responsibility in the State. Accordingly, Bagalkot would be "adopted" by Syndicate Bank, Davangere by Canara Bank, Chamarajnagar by State Bank of Mysore, Kodagu by Corporation Bank, Koppal by State Bank of Hyderabad, and Haveri by Vijaya Bank, she said.

Ms. Devaki said that the aim of the RBI was to achieve cent per cent financial inclusion in the State. She urged public sector banks to initiate the groundwork .

She said that a focused approach would enable Karnataka to achieve cent per cent financial inclusion.

Chikmagalur and Mandya have also been included in the programme by the respective lead banks, she added.

The banks have been asked to provide simplified "General purpose card", with revolving credit limit up to Rs. 25,000, at rural and semi-urban branches.

Deputy Commissioner Pankajkumar Pandey said that the district administration was planning to make all payments, including pensions and financial benefits of various welfare programmes, through banks.

Secretary of the Cooperation Department P. Ravikumar was present.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail