RURAL BANKING

INTRODUCTION TO RURAL BANKING

Rural banking started with the establishment of banking sector in India. Rural banks mainly focus on Agro sector. There are 14,475 rural banks in India of which 2126 are located in remote rural areas of India. SBI is the largest bank catering to Rural Banking.

Rural population of India is about 780 million with limited access to financial services

INTRODUCTION TO RURAL BANKING

About 500 to 600 million people in India still do not bank accounts.
Rural economy (agriculture + on-agriculture) constitutes about 50% of GDP.

Banks have woken up to the potential in the rural sector.

Current demand for credit in rural India is Rs. 1,33,000 Crores.

Commercial bank branches cover only 7% of the rural sector and large market is still untapped.
NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) was set up by Government of India for promotion and development of agriculture and integrated rural development.

RURAL BANKING SYSTEM IN INDIA

Rural banking system in India is governed by Rural cooperative banks

Regional Rural Banks

RURAL BANKING SYSTEM IN INDIA

Rural Cooperative Banks Rural cooperatives occupy an important position in the Indian financial system. These were the first formal institutions established to purvey credit to rural India. Thus far, cooperatives have been a key instrument of financial inclusion in reaching out to the last mile in rural areas. Cooperative banks are registered under the respective State Co-operative Societies Act or Multi State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 and governed by the provisions of the respective acts. The legal character, ownership, management, clientele and the role of state governments in the functioning of the cooperative banks make these institutions distinctively different from commercial banks.

RURAL BANKING SYSTEM IN INDIA

Rural Cooperative Banks: Rural cooperatives structure is bifurcated into short-term and longterm structure. The short-term cooperative structure is a three-tier structure with State Cooperative Banks (StCBs) at the apex (State) level, District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) at the intermediate (district) level and Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) at the ground (village) level. The short term structure caters primarily to the various short / medium-term production and marketing credit needs for agriculture. As on end-March 2008, there were 95,352 Short-term Rural Cooperative Credit Institutions (STCCIs). This included 31 StCBs, 371 DCCBs and 94,950 PACS. There were 717 Long Term Rural Cooperative Credit Institutions (LTCCIs) comprising 20 SCARDBs and 697 PCARDBs.

RURAL BANKING SYSTEM OF INDIA

Rural Cooperative Banks: Rural cooperatives structure is bifurcated into short-term and longterm structure. The long-term cooperative structure has the State Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (SCARDBs) at the apex level and the Primary Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (PCARDBs) at the district or block level. These institutions were conceived with the objective of meeting long-term credit needs in agriculture.

RBI POLICIES AND FUNCTIONS IN RURAL BANKING

Regulatory and Supervisory Framework While regulation of State Cooperative Banks and District Central Cooperative Banks vests with Reserve Bank, their supervision is carried out by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). The Board of Supervision, a Committee of the Board of Directors of NABARD, gives directions and guidance in respect of policies and matters relating to supervision and inspection of StCBs and DCCBs. A large number of StCBs as well as DCCBs are unlicensed and are allowed to function as banks till they are either granted licence or their applications for licence are rejected.

RBI POLICIES AND FUNCTIONS IN RURAL BANKING

Capital Adequacy Norms At present, the CRAR (Capital Adequacy Ratio) norms are not applicable to StCBs and DCCBs. However, since March 31, 2008, they are required to disclose the level of CRAR in the notes on accounts to their balance sheets every year. The income recognition, asset classification and provisioning norms are applicable as in the case of commercial banks.

RURAL BANKING SYSTEM IN INDIA

Regional Rural Banks Regional Rural Banks were set up under the Regional Rural Banks Act, 1976with a view to developing the rural economy by providing credit and other facilities, particularly to the small and marginal farmers, agricultural labourers, artisans and small entrepreneurs. Being local level institutions, RRBs together with commercial and co-operative banks, were assigned a critical role to play in the delivery of agriculture and rural credit. The equity of the RRBs was contributed by the Central Government, concerned State Government and the sponsor bank in the proportion of 50:15:35. As of March 31, 2009, there were 86 RRBs having a total of 15,107 branches. The function of financial regulation over RRBs is exercised by Reserve Bank and the supervisory powers have been vested with NABARD.

RBI POLICIES AND FUNCTIONS

CRAR norms are not applicable to RRBs. However, the income recognition, asset classification and provisioning norms as applicable to commercial banks are applicable to RRBs.

FINANCIAL INCLUSION
Financial inclusion or inclusive financing is the delivery of financial services at affordable costs to sections of disadvantaged and low income segments of society. Unrestrained access to public goods and services is the sine qua non of an open and efficient society. It is argued that as banking services are in the nature of public good, it is essential that availability of banking and payment services to the entire population without discrimination is the prime objective of public policy.

The term "financial inclusion" has gained importance since the early 2000s, and is a result of findings about financial exclusion and its direct correlation to poverty. Financial inclusion is now a common objective for many central banks among the developing nations.

FINANCIAL INCLUSION AND CURRENT PERSPECTIVE

The Reserve Bank of India has set up a commission (Khan Commission) in 2004 to look into financial inclusion and the recommendations of the commission were incorporated into the mid-term review of the policy (200506). In the report RBI exhorted the banks with a view of achieving greater financial inclusion to make available a basic "no-frills" banking account. In India, Financial Inclusion first featured in 2005, when it was introduced, that, too, from a pilot project in UT of Pondicherry, by K C Chakraborthy, the chairman of Indian Bank. Mangalam Village became the first village in India where all households were provided banking facilities. In addition to this KYC (Know your Customer) norms were relaxed for people intending to open accounts with annual deposits of less than Rs. 50,000.

FINANCIAL INCLUSION AND ITS PERSPECTIVE

General Credit Cards (GCC) were issued to the poor and the disadvantaged with a view to help them access easy credit. In January 2006, the Reserve Bank permitted commercial banks to make use of the services of non-governmental organizations (NGOs/SHGs), micro-finance institutions and other civil society organizations as intermediaries for providing financial and banking services. These intermediaries could be used as business facilitators (BF) or business correspondents (BC) by commercial banks. The bank asked the commercial banks in different regions to start a 100% financial inclusion campaign on a pilot basis. As a result of the campaign states or U.T.s like Pondicherry, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala have announced 100% financial inclusion in all their districts. Reserve Bank of Indias vision for 2020 is to open nearly 600 million new customers' accounts and service them through a variety of channels by leveraging on IT.

However, illiteracy and the low income savings and lack of bank branches in rural areas continue to be a road block to financial inclusion in many states. Apart from this there are certain in Current model which is followed. There is inadequate legal and financial structure. India, being a mostly agrarian economy, hardly has schemes which lend for agriculture. Along with microfinance we need to focus on Micro insurance too.

FINANCIAL INCLUSION AND ITS PERSPECTIVE

Financial Inclusion Includes Accessing Of Financial Products And Services Like, Savings facility, Credit and debit cards access Electronic fund transfer All kinds of commercial loans, Overdraft facility, Cheque facility, Payment and remittance services

Low cost financial services, Insurance (Medical insurance), Financial advice, Pension for old age and investment schemes, Access to financial markets
Micro credit during emergency Entrepreneurial credit