Despite all odds Uttarakhand completes financial inclusion

Situated at high altitude of the remote Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, Paing and Chai villages have identical topography.

And now, these two villages will have added another common feature "" each household has at least one bank account.

Paing and Chai are not the only villages in the state where the banking service have now virtually reached doorsteps. Quoting latest statistics, top bank officials today claimed that all the 15,27,560 families residing in the total 15,761 villages in Uttarakhand have now access to banks and this happened beacuse of RBI's financial inclusion scheme.

Other states like Karnataka and Kerala also claim to have achieved cent per cent financial inclusion. But Uttarakhand's achievement in this regard may be more as hundreds of villages still do not have access to roads and other basic amenities and remain cut off during the winter.

Under the RBI's financial inclusion policy, banks from both public and private sectors have now covered all the 15,27,560 families residing in the state with a population of 84,89,349.

Chief Minister B C Khanduri is likely to make a formal announcement regarding the completion of financial inclusion scheme in Uttarakhand, official sources said here today.

"This is a major achievement for Uttarakhand keeping in view the tough topography of the state," said Mahip Kumar, Deputy General Manger (DGM) of SBI, which is the convener of the State Level Banking Committee (SLBC).

SBI has the proud privilege of covering 9 out of the total 13 districts of the state. Significantly, all the 9 districts are situated on hills having tough topography. Punjab National Bank (PNB) was given the mandate to cover 2 districts and Bank of Baroda (BOB) other two.

To cover far-flung villages, bank officials had to trek miles together to reach there. "In case of Paing, we trekked nearly 4 km to reach there," said Kumar.

SBI's "tiny card" by which the banking services are made available at the doorsteps of villagers, is being used widely in the remote areas of the state.

In the Mid Term Review of the Policy (2005-06), RBI asked the banks, with a view to achieving greater financial inclusion, to make available a basic banking 'no frills' account either with 'NIL' or very minimum balance as well as charges that would make such accounts accessible to vast sections of the population.