The Hindu Business Line : All Bengal gram panchayats may have banking facilities soon

“In the first phase, GPs without a bank branch within 10 km radius would be covered and subsequently, it would be extended to other GPs in a phased manner in the next five years.”

Shobha Kannan

Kolkata, Sept 9 West Bengal’s Gram Panchayats (GPs) having no bank branches will soon have banking facilities extended to them if the recommendations of the committee on ‘Extension of Banking Facilities in Unbanked Gram Panchayats’ are approved by the Reserve Bank of India, according to Mr T.M. Bhasin, Executive Director, United Bank of India and Chairperson of the Committee.

West Bengal has 941 GPs without access to banking facilities and the committee, therefore, has suggested the adoption of a multi-phase approach to bring them under the banking umbrella.

Report submission

The committee, which was set up following a meeting in December last year between the then RBI Governor, Dr Y.V. Reddy, and the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, would submit its recommendations by September 15, Mr Bhasin said.

It has representatives from the State Government, the RBI, other commercial banks, co-operative banks and regional rural banks.

In the first phase, GPs without a bank branch within 10 km radius would be covered and subsequently, it would be extended to other GPs in a phased manner in the next five years, Mr Bhasin told Business Line.

The recommendations, once cleared by the apex bank, would be circulated among various banks so that they could apply for licences to set up branches in those areas, Mr Bhasin said.

Reaching out

Banks can either set up branches or work through business correspondent or business facilitators in order to reach out to the unbanked areas, he said.

“There are 45 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) in the State and we have requested them to assist banks in cheque collection and cheque payment services,” he said.

Infrastructure

According to Mr Bhasin, the State Government has agreed to provide the necessary infrastructure to set up a branch such as a room, electricity and connectivity. The committee has also recommended mobile van banking system to offer services to customers in these GPs. “These mobile vans with currency chests can move from one GP to another, thereby covering two-to-three GPs in a day,” he said.

United Bank plans to set up 50 branches over the five-year period, Mr Bhasin added.

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