A New Programme of Financial Inclusion -
opportunity to Gramin Dak Sevaks -- NEWS
Government to Launch A New Program of Financial
Inclusion in Mission Mode to Provide Households with Facilities of Savings,
Credit, Remittances, Insurance and Pension: FM
The Union Finance Minster
Shri Arun Jaitley said that the Government is going to launch a new program of Financial
Inclusion in Mission Mode which will provide households with facilities of
savings, credit, remittances, insurance and pension among others. He said that
this is a marked shift from earlier effort where only opening of account was
the focus of the financial inclusion drive. The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley
was speaking after holding a meeting with theChief Executive Officers (CEOs) of
Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and Financial Institutions(FIs) here today.
The meeting was attended
among others by Shri G.S. Sandhu, Secretary, Department of Financial Services,
Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India, Ms. Snehlata Shrivastva, Additional
Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of
Public Sector Banks and Financial Institutions and senior officers of Ministry
of Finance.
The Finance Minister Shri
Jaitley further said that this time the Government is targeting the individual
households rather than the village. He said that there are 7.5 crore households
in the country who do not have bank account so far. The Finance Minister said
that the Government is targeting that every village should get a banking
facility within a reasonable distance and that every household should have at
least one bank account within the time frame of one year. This is a big
challenge and there are several difficulties like lack of connectivity and
infrastructure facilities etc, the Minister added.
The Finance Minister Shri
Jaitley said that in our country where we have very low levels of financial
literacy, it is essential that people understand the importance of availing
financial services which will enable them to participate in the growth story.
Therefore, financial literacy will receive a special emphasis in this new
programme of financial inclusion, the Minister added.
The Finance Minister Shri
Jaitley said that technology has made rapid strides in recent times and,
therefore, the Government must use technology, especially mobile based services
in a big way to achieve the desired results. The Government has integrated
provisions of access to banking facilities, account opening, financial
literacy, credit availment, micro insurance and pension, the Minister added.
The Financial Inclusion
Mission has two phases starting from 15thAugust this year. The first
phase will get over by 14thAugust, 2015 and the second Phase by 14thAugust,
2018. Most of the activities will be done in Phase – I and insurance and
pension would be covered in Phase – II.
The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley added that the previous efforts
did not involve the State Government and District administration. He said that
this time the State Governments have been requested to achieve this ambitious
task. There would be State level and District level Committees to monitor the
progress under the plan, the Minister stated.
The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley said that there was no pull
factor in the earlier campaign where people could demand access of banking
facilities in their villages. He added that under the Mission, there would be
awareness generation amongst the people so that they can ask for opening of
their bank accounts by the banks and the business correspondents.
The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley stated that in the past, the Know
Your Customer (KYC) process was very cumbersome. This has now been eased and
the e-KYC facility has been introduced in the banks.
Comparison between Old Financial Inclusion Programme and New
Programme.
|
Old Program
|
New Program
|
|
Village based approach
for villages where population greater than 2000 (Limited
Geography)
|
Households in all
villages
|
|
Only Rural
|
Both Rural and Urban
|
|
Mobile BC
|
Fixed
Point BC in each SSA comprising of 3 to 4 villages. This visit other villages
in the SSA on fixed days.
|
|
Focus on opening of
Basic Savings Bank Deposit Accounts (BSBDA)
|
Focus
on Financial Literacy, opening of BSBDA Account, Convergence with other
subsidy schemes& Micro Insurance/Pension, RuPay Debit Card, USSD Scheme,
Kisan Credit Card
|
|
Monitoring by banks
|
Monitoring
Mechanism at Centre, State, District level. Active participation of state and
district emphasized.
|
|
Operation of Accounts
offline; separate server.
|
Accounts
on line ‘on CBS of banks. Provision of RuPay Card to each account holder
giving him freedom to operate anywhere
|
Besides above, the following decisions were also taken in
today’s meeting of the CEOs of Public Sector Banks and Financial Institutions
which was chaired by the Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley.
- New emphasis on fixed point Business Correspondents (BCs) like :
o
Common Service Centres (CSCs)
o
Gramin Dak sevaks
o
PDS shops
o
NBFCs
- Banks to explore the possibilities of installing ATMs in rural areas under RBI subsidy scheme
- Convergence with the efforts of UIDAI to enroll beneficiaries for Aadhar number during account opening
- Convergence with the efforts of other programmes of SHGs / JLGs
- e-KYC to be used for opening of accounts in the camps where Aadhaar number is available
- Financial literacy material would be standardized by IBA
- Logo / tagline of the plan to be used on all correspondence material for one year
- Overdraft facilities would be after satisfactory operation
- Grievance redressal cell at State level by State Level Banker’s Committee(SLBC)
- In order to ensure viability of BCs Banks would start a financing scheme
- Banks would take Micro ATMs which are Aadhar enabled
- All Pass book based KCCs to be enabled on Rupay card
- Mobile wallet cash points also to be used as BCs
- Monitoring mechanism strengthened.
- State Governments requested to depute an officer to SLBC for monitoring purpose
souce: PIB