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 the
Chief 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 said that the primary method of branchless
banking has been that of the Business Correspondents. It is therefore important
to ensure that the Business Correspondents have a viable business model and for
this purpose Government has decided to encourage transfer of subsidies directly
to bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
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
· Common Service Centres
(CSCs)
· Gramin Dak Sewak
· PDS shops
· NBFCs
·
Banks
to explore the possibilities of installing ATMs in rural areas under the 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 for 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
passbook 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
Source : PIB Release, 31.07.2014
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