RBI extends banking facilities to remote areas of Northeast

Agartala, Jan 17 (ANI): The Reserve Bank of India, recently conducted a financial outreach camp in remote villages of Tripura.

For the people of Bagmara village in Tripura's Dhalai District, banking facilities was just a dream till some years ago, but today, hundreds of them are a part of it, thanks to the financial outreach programme that has been initiated by the RBI.

They villagers are happy, as more than 725 of them got their zero balance accounts and for the first time they will have a passbook.

325 soft loans were also disbursed mainly among the women self help groups of the region.

Apart from Reserve Bank, State Bank, NABARD, United Bank of India and Tripura State Cooperative Bank had also set up stalls.

The main aim behind organizing this camp was to aware and educate people and prevent them from putting their money in the unauthorized non banking financial companies and institutions in hope of hefty returns.

"Education on financial literacy is one of the most important areas that require focus and our officials are working in collaboration with the local bodies. They are very active in educating people on various facilities available to the people from the bank," said S Karuppasamy, Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India.

This was the 18th camp organized by RBI in Northeast since 2009 for enhancing banking facilities.

Through these camps, the central bank has included more than 1000 villages and spread awareness on various banking facilities and security features of currency notes in northeast.

Reserve Bank aims to improve the credit-deposit ratio, increase the agri credit flow and the number of branches would increase to stimulate growth of industry, trade and commerce in region.

"We have received a soft loan of Rs 12,000 at very low interest rate from a bank during this camp. With the money, there will be rise in our income and it would enable us to run our families better and educate our children," said Sima Narang, member, Self Help Group.

"We have received loan from the bank to cultivate mushroom. We hope to make good profits now and also expect similar co-operation from the bank in future," said Ratna, another member of Self Help Group.

These facilities will not just help people keep their money safe but also pave way for the economic development of the region.

Extending banking facility in the northeast is a huge challenge for the banks because of the regions difficult terrain, lower population densities, poor infrastructure and communication facilities and law and order problems. (ANI)