Banking Facilities in Rural Areas
SHRI DHARAMBIR SINGH
Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:
(a) whether the Government is aware about the number of Gram Panchayats, Panchayat committees and block committees in the country where banking facilities are not available in areas having more than 3000 persons;
(b) if so, whether the Government is contemplating to provide banking facilities in these areas including in the States of Bihar and Haryana;
(c) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;
(d) the number of Gram Panchayats and blocks in Bihar and Haryana where there is not a single public or private sector bank;
(e) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and
(f) the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to open bank branches where there is not banking facilities in such areas of the country?
(SHRI ANURAG SINGH THAKUR)
As per extant guidelines dated 18.5.2017 on rationalisation of Branch Authorisation Policy, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted general permission to domestic Scheduled Commercial Banks (excluding Regional Rural Banks), to open banking outlets at any place in the country, without seeking prior approval of RBI in each case, subject to at least 25 percent of the total number of banking outlets opened during a financial year being in unbanked rural centres i.e. centres having population less than 10,000 (Tier 5 and Tier 6 centres).
Further, ten Small Finance banks and six Payment Banks have been licensed by RBI for providing banking services across the country including the rural centres.
Under Pradhan Mantri Jan-Ohan Yojana (PMJDY), all villages were mapped by banks into 1.59 lakh Sub-Service Areas (SSAs) with one SSA catering to 1,000 to 1,500 households. While 0.33 lakh SSAs have been covered with bank branches , 1.26 lakh SSAs, have been covered by deployment of interoperable Business Correspondents (BCs).
In pursuance of RBI guidelines, rolling out of banking outlets in uncovered areas is a continuous process and looked after by State Level Banker’s Committee (SLBC), in consultation with the concerned State Government, member banks and other stakeholders. Banks, inter-alia, consider proposals for opening banking outlets in the light of RBl’s instructions , their business plans and their commercial viability. To further assess the viability for opening a banking outlet, banks carry out survey as required.
(d) and (e) As informed by SLBC, Haryana and SLBC Bihar, all the Gram Panchayats and Blocks in these States are covered with banking services by bank branches/ Business Correspondents .
