Question : Bank Service in Rural Areas

(a) whether the banking services are badly affected in rural areas, if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor along with the total rural population covered by banking service and ATMs at present, State/UT-wise including Odisha;
(b) whether the Government proposes to provide the banking service at panchayat level in rural areas, if so, the details thereof and the number of Panchayats that have not been covered with banking facility so far along with the time period by which it will be covered, State/UT-wise including Gujarat;
(c) whether the Government has prescribed any yardstick to open bank branches in the country and if so, the details thereof along with the percentage of population that have not been covered according to such yardstick;
(d) the practical problem faced by the Government to facilitate banking services at panchayat level areas and the corrective measures taken/being taken by the Government in this regard;
(e) the manner in which the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme is likely to be implemented in the rural branches; and
(f) the steps taken to enhance the penetration of banking services at Panchayat level?

The Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance

(a) to (f) As per extant guidelines dated 18.5.2017 on rationalizing of Branch Authorization Policy, Reserve Bank of India has granted general permission to domestic Scheduled Commercial Banks (excluding Regional Rural Banks), to open banking outlets at any place in the country, without seeking prior approval of RBI in each case, subject to at least 25 percent of the total number of banking outlets opened during a financial year being in unbanked rural centres with population less than 10,000.
As informed by Reserve Bank of India (RBI), as on 31.3.2018, 50,748 (35.57%) branches out of 1,42,651 total branches of Scheduled Commercial Banks are in rural centres, i.e. centres having population less than 10,000. They have further informed that details of rural population covered by banking services and ATMs are not available with them. However, State/UT-wise number of bank branches of Scheduled Commercial Banks in rural centres as on 31.03.2018 is at Annexure-1. State/UT-wise number of ATMs as on 01.08.2018 is at Annexure-2.
Under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), all the villages across the entire country have been mapped by banks into 1.59 lakh Sub-service Areas (SSAs), based on the criteria to 1000 – 1500 households. Out of total SSAs, 0.33 lakh SSAs are covered by bank branches and 1.26 lakh SSAs without bank branches have been covered with inter-operable Business Correspondents (BCs).
As informed by Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Mission, Cabinet Secretariat under DBT, benefits like wage payments, fuel subsidies, food grain subsidies etc. are sent directly into the beneficiaries’ account. The benefits are transferred using preferably Aadhaar Payment Bridge (APB), or through NEFT/RTGS.
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