All villages to get banking services by 2015: RBI

SURTAPUR(CHANDAULI, UP): The Reserve Bank deputy governor KC Chakrabarty on Saturday said all the villages will have banking services by 2015.

Attending an an RBI outreach programme for distributing biometric smart cards here, Chakrabarty said it is not good that even after 40 years of bank nationalisation over 50 per cent of the population do not get banking services.

He said, "looking into the problems of the rural areas and using technological advantages available, we have decided to outreach the entire rural people at their doorsteps by 2015. For this, we have introduced 'Branchless Banking' via smart cards to the rural population, issued by the lead-banks of their respective areas.

He said, RBI has drawn a roadmap to provide banking outlets in all villages in the first phase, where population is above 2000, by 2012. In the second phase, all the remaining villages will be covered for doorstep banking by 2015.

The doorstep banking involves issuing smart cards and then bank representatives reaching to the villages, twice or thrice a month, with the swap machines and cash.

Chakrabarty said Union Bank of India alone has so for issued more than 2.1 million smart cards to customers through its 2,500 branchless banking units.

On the occasion Union Bank chairman MV Nair said his bank will provide smart cards to all the people of the Naugarh block of Chandauli district, on priority basis within three months.