MANGALORE, Dec 20 (The Hindu): Aimed at taking banking services to backward areas, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched its outreach programme at Pavoor, a village on the border of Karnataka and Kerala.
A majority of the 5,000 people in the village belong to the Koraga tribe. They are now set to get loans at bank rates, which will relieve them from the clutches of moneylenders, who charge exorbitant rates of interest.
At the inauguration of the programme on Saturday as part of the RBI’s platinum jubilee year, about 20 people were given loans by the Kunjathbail branch of North Malabar Grameen Bank. This bank has come forward to set up a sub-branch at Pavoor to begin with. A regular branch will start functioning as and when transactions improve, according to its Chairman, V. Sriram Prakash.
RBI Executive Director G. Gopalakrishna told presspersons that only 70,000 of the 6.6 lakh villages in the country were yet to get banking facility.
In the absence of banks close to their places of residence, some beneficiaries of government schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme were made to travel up to 20 km to receive payments.
He said recently the RBI had liberalised rules related to appointment of individuals, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), grocery shops, petroleum outlets, etc., as banking service providers so that banking facilities could be reached to villages. Liberalisation of banking, which meant that banks were no longer required to seek the RBI’s permission to open branches, would lead to proliferation of banks, he said.
Distribution of new 10-rupee coins was an attraction at the venue of the launching of the programme. Stalls showcasing the RBI’s activities, facilities being offered by different banks in the surrounding areas of the village, had been put up.
Kasaragod Collector Ashok Singh, local legislator C.H. Kunhambu, Varkady gram panchayat president P.B. Aboobacker Pathoor and Manjeshwar gram panchayat president V.A. Khader expressed happiness over RBI selecting Pavoor for launching the outreach programme.