The Hindu : Karnataka News : Financial inclusion by end of September likely

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Sunday, Jul 01, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Financial inclusion by end of September likely

Staff Correspondent

100 per cent financial inclusion in Udupi district

Manipal: Regional Director of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Devaki Muthukrishnan said that all districts in Karnataka are likely to be 100 per cent financially included by the end of September, 2007. She was delivering the keynote address at a function organised for declaring Udupi district in 100 per cent “financial inclusion” on Saturday.

Ms. Muthukrishnan said that already 11 districts in Karnataka had been declared as financially included. As many as 24 districts had been adopted by public sector banks in the State for achieving financial inclusion in the first phase. So far, 21,21,220 households in 11,641 villages had been covered through opening of “No Frills Account” by banks. As many as 18,892 account holders had been provided with “general purpose credit card” (GCC) facility.

Stating that there was a large business potential in rural markets, she said banks should decide the kind of delivery channels required for meeting the banking and remittance needs of rural people. The branch was not the only source for delivering banking services. Options such as mobile services launched by the Canara Gramin Vikas Vahini, rural ATMs, smart cards, use of intermediaries such as Self Help Groups (SHGs), and post offices need to be explored to spread in rural areas. “There should be a clear focus on relatively under-banked and under-served areas”, she said.

Chairman and Managing Director of Syndicate Bank C.P. Swarnkar, Medical Education Minister V.S. Acharya, General Manager of NABARD-Bangalore M.V. Patro, Directors of Syndicate Bank Vinaykumar Sorake and Dinakar Punja, and MLA Lalaji Mendan were present.

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