While both Odisha Government and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) harping on increasing the outreach of banking services in the State, coverage of banks in this regard continues to be abysmally low, feel top officials in the State’s Department of Finance (DoF). The DoF has come out with a detailed outreach of banks, which reveals that 24 out of 30 districts of the State have been identified as “Under-banked.” In fact, RBI Governor D Subbarao had stumbled upon the stark realities during his visit to the State recently. According to the latest analysis of the DoF, seven blocks of Malkangiri and Nabarangpur districts do not have a single branch of any public or private sector bank. And 83 villages with population above 5,000 are identified as “Under-banked” centres. Though time and again, the State Government has been harping on opening of bank branches in these “Under-banked” areas, both public and private sector banks have been showing lukewarm response to the issue, rued a senior DoF officer. Out of the total number of 3,335 bank branches in the State, rural branches are 1,878, though there is a large requirement of opening branches in the “Under-banked” areas, he said. Under this backdrop, the RBI’s asking for 100 per cent financial inclusion taking one-family-one-account as the parameter would remain a far cry, said a senior official of the State Cooperative Bank. For example, while most of the blocks of Malkangiri district have no banks either from public or private sector, the deadline for cent percent financial inclusion was stipulated by March, 2011. And recently the State Bank of India has taken the alibi of law and order problem in the district, for which banks are facing lot of difficulties in achieving 100 per cent financial inclusion. Malkangiri is the worst Maoist-affected district, and this alibi appeals to all. But hard fact remains that miles and miles one covers in Malkangiri, he will hardly find any branch of any bank. For instance, Government employees working in the Motu area of the district cover 100 kilometres to get their pay cheque deposited and cleared at the SBI’s Malkangiri branch, pointed out an employee of the tehsil office at Motu.
The Pioneer
