Date:20/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/20/stories/2008112054460500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Financial inclusion to touch slums

M. Raghuram

RBI directs SLBC member banks to include slum dwellers in the scheme

RBI has directed banks to extend no-frills accounts to slum dwellers in BBMP areas
Banks and NGOs will coordinate efforts to
make the scheme successful

BANGALORE: After the widespread financial inclusion of the financially marginalised classes in the State, banks are now being entrusted with carrying out financial inclusion of slums within the ambit of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

The financial inclusion programme (first phase) has been implemented in all the districts in the State in the areas coming under the BBMP. The lead banks in the various regions have declared the regions under their respective command areas as 100 per cent financially included. However, the RBI has directed the banks to revisit account holders in the slum areas and conduct a household survey and extend no-frills accounts to slum dwellers in the BBMP areas.

According to statistics available with the State Level Banker Committee (SLBC) convener bank — Syndicate Bank — in all 27,15,707 ‘no-frills’ accounts have been opened and banks have extended General Credit Card to 49,244 no-frills account holders, enabling them to get credit up to Rs. 25,000 under micro-finance options.

According to the SLBC review document, steps have been initiated for implementing financial inclusion (first phase) in the areas of BBMP covering 100 wards and 110 villages and eight City Municipal Council areas.

Meetings

The SLBC has conducted a series of meetings with all the members of the committee — Syndicate Bank, Canara Bank, Vijaya Bank, State Bank of India and State Bank of Mysore — and with the NGOs that have been identified by the SLBC, for taking up financial inclusion. The slums identified by the Karnataka Slum Clearance Board have been already allocated to various banks and coordinating NGOs.

Officials of the lead bank in Bangalore urban district said the accounts that can be generated in the slum areas could be around three lakh. Slums in Egipura, Marathhalli, Ambedkarnagar in Okalipura have already been visited by the various banks and their coordinating NGOs.

The endeavour to bring all slum dwellers in BBMP closer to banking practices will take not less than three months, sources added.