Some of the public sector banks and regional rural banks (RRBs) operating in Orissa have made tardy progress in the area of financial inclusion in the state.
The PSU banks which are extremely slow in implementation of the Financial Inclusion Plan (FIP) in the state include Andhra Bank, Canara Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Punjab National Bank and UCO Bank.
While Andhra Bank has covered only 29 out of 70 villages allotted to it under the FIP by June-end, Canara Bank has covered just one village out of 21 allocated to it by the State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC).
Similarly, Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) are yet to take up a single village under FIP. While OBC was assigned three villages, PNB was allotted 33 villages.
UCO Bank, which has the lead bank responsibility in the state, has managed to cover only 70 out of 172 villages allotted to it.
Among the RRBs functioning in the state, all the five banks have been laggards in the area of financial inclusion.
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Baitarani Gramya Bank has managed to cover just five out of 42 villages allotted to it under FIP whereas Utkal Gramya Bank has implemented the plan in only four out of 227 villages.
Likewise, Kalinga Gramya Bank has brought 49 out of 230 villages allotted to it under FIP by the end of June while Neelachal Gramya Bank has covered 18 out of 114 villages.
The performance of Rushikulya Gramya Bank has been the worst as the RRB is yet to cover even a single village out of 98 villages assigned to it.
Among the private sector banks, State Bank of India (SBI), Allahabad Bank, Bank of Baroda, Indian Bank, Syndicate Bank and United Bank of India have achieved good progress on the financial inclusion front.SBI has achieved almost 100 per cent inclusion, covering 466 out of 469 villages assigned to it. Bank of India has covered 20 out of 22 villages while Syndicate Bank has completed the process in 21 out of 23 villages allotted to it under FIP.Of the 1164 villages allotted to public sector banks under FIP, 889 villages have already been covered (as on June 30, 2011). While brick and mortar branches have been set up in 16 villages, 857 villages have been covered through the Banking Correspondent model. The balance 16 villages have been brought under the fold of financial inclusion through mobile van banking.Two private sector banks- ICICI Bank and Axis Bank have been assigned one village each under FIP which are yet to be covered.
The RRBs have covered 76 out of 711 villages allotted to them. On the whole, out of 1877 villages in the state with a population of over 2000, as many as 965 villages have been financially included. While bank branches have come up in 35 villages, 862 villages have been covered under the Banking Correspondent model with mobile van banking extending the programme to the remaining 68 villages.