PNB to develop Chandigarh village as model village

Punjab National Bank (PNB) has adopted one village in Chandigarh, which will be developed as a model village in terms of banking infrastructure and baking services.  PNB, which is a leading bank here, would provide banking services through ICT-enabled Business Correspondent model in its adopted village Kishangarh. A survey of village has been completed jointly by the Reserve Bank of India and PNB to ensure 100 per cent financial inclusion in the village. All those households that are disconnected from banking services would be issued biometric cards, said an official of RBI here. Speaking on this occasion, RBI Executive Director, G Gopalakrishna said that RBI had asked banks to cover unbanked villages by year 2012 as part of financial inclusion programme. "RBI has asked banks to cover villages that have not been covered yet and they have to complete this task by 2012," he said. He stressed the need to use technology like mobile technology, ICT model besides banking correspondents and brick and mortar model in reaching out to ruralites. “Still 50 per cent of the total population is not covered by banks. There are 32,000 bank branches across the country, while there are about 600,000 villages in the country, there is still a long way to go. Only by leveraging technology can we bridge this gap. We should ensure every person has a bank account, so that he can avail of various financial services offered by the government and other agencies,” he added.