Role of regional rural banks (RRBs) is very important in the real last mile financial inclusion. They can play a greater role than scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) in achieving the goals of financial inclusion, said K J Taori, general manager, agri business unit, State Bank of India at a day-long seminar in Mumbai.
The seminar, titled as ?Charting a roadmap for IT-enabled financial inclusion? was held by Frost & Sullivan and was presented by Atom in association with The Financial Express on Thursday.
RRBs can do all this only when they are technologically upgraded and other requirements are met by the government as well as banks sponsoring them, said Taori. He added that that financial support to all RRBs was required so as to help them participate actively in the financial inclusion programme. In fact the RRBs? requirement was two-fold which include upswing and downswing, said Taori.
Speaking along similar lines, Anandi Lal, general manager, priority sector and RRB, Dena Bank, said that RRBs can play even a greater role in financial inclusion than SCBs that are responsible for their sponsorship. However, technology must be different when it comes to things like collection, deposits and advances for RRBs, said Lal outlining the need for the speedy computerisation of all RRBs.
Mukund L Abhyankar, chairman, The Cosmos Co-operative Bank stressed that while customer education was the need of the hour, connectivity was definitely a problem for smooth functioning of biometric cards in rural areas.
However, he appreciated the recent guideline issued by the Reserve Bank of India asking banks not to levy any charge for transactions through ATMs in future.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the seminar, Shyamal Acharya, SBI chief general manager, rural business, said that his bank plans to offer credit products through its no-frills accounts.
?Also, SBI is looking to mobilise more deposits in such accounts to enhance business viability of its rural banking/ financial inclusion operations,? said Acharya.
SBI plans to open around 1,000 branches in the rural and semi urban areas during the current fiscal year.
