The Central Bank of India is working at a fast pace on the concept of financial inclusion and is leveraging on its presence in rural and semi-urban areas to achieve the objective of providing financial services at the door step of people living in remote areas of Jharkhand.
“We have not set any time frame to achieve 100 per cent inclusion but in two years time we will cover a reasonable percentage of people through financial inclusion,” said Smruti Ranjan Dash, DGM, Central Bank of India. The Central Bank with a marked presence in the State through 82 branches has deputed around 107 Banking Correspondents with handheld devices to enable transactions to people living in inaccessible areas. “We have Banking Correspondents in almost all pilot districts for direct benefit transfer,” said Dash adding, “we have distributed around 95,000 cards so far.”
Central Bank’s financial inclusion effort is likely to get a boost with additional 33 branches expected to be opened in Jharkhand in current year. The bank has already taken its tally of branches up by 17 in a year’s time. “We are in an expansion mode because we are bullish about the State’s economy and the potential it offers,” maintained Dash. The bank is vying for presence in almost all district headquarters and important centres across Jharkhand so as to extend financial inclusion to the last people in Jharkhand. Incidentally, around 70 per cent branches of the bank are located in rural and semi-urban areas. “Having a brick and mortar branch is very important to extend financial services to people living in remote areas. We need to have base to provide services,” confided Dash.
However, the pace of inclusion is getting affected due to technology constraints in remote areas thus making the need for alternate mode of transaction felt more than ever. “The issue is with connectivity in remote areas as transaction cannot be undertaken (due to this),” said Dash. The DGM dismissed any threat to the bank’s operations in Jharkhand and admitted that more needs to be done in the State in the area of banking.