Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Wednesday asked banks and other financial institutions in the country to speed up the process of financial inclusion imperative for India’s higher economic growth. Financial inclusion refers to providing easy and affordable access to finance at reasonable costs and repayment terms to the poor. These can be loans for consumption, asset purchase, business, and enabling accumulation of savings and insurance. “We shall have to go a long way in achieving financial inclusion in the country which is important for sustained high economic growth rate, reduce poverty, deprivation and disparity in the country,” he said at the centenary celebration of Central Bank of India. Around 38 per cent of banks have branches in rural India while a mere 40 per cent of the country’s population has bank accounts. The number of bank braches has risen from 8,700, at the time of bank nationalisation in 1969, to around 85,300 at present. However, only 32,000 of these are in rural areas. The average population per bank branch is 13,900. The government has planned financial inclusion to ensure banking facilities in habitation with a population in excess of 2,000, by March 2012. The program will use various models and technologies, including branchless banking through business correspondents.
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