(a) whether there are large areas in the country which do not have any banking facility;
(b) whether there are a large number of blocks, particularly,in North-Eastern States and Bihar,where no branches of any commercial banks exist;
(c) the steps proposed to open branches of commercial as well as other banks in these blocks; and
(d) the time by which each block in the country will have at least one branch of a commercial bank?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI S.S. PALANIMANICKAM)
(a)&(b): The number of branches of Commercial Banks operating in various States/UTs. of the country,including
states in the North-Eastern Region and Bihar as on 30.9.2004,as reported by Reserve Bank of India(RBI),are at Annexure.
(c)&(d): As per the present branch licensing policy of the RBI, it is left to the discretion of the banks to assess
the need for opening bank branches in any area of the country after taking into consideration certain factors such as
business potential,viability, infrastructure, security etc. The RBI encourages the Banks opening more branches in rural
areas and gives priority to such requests.