Mainstreaming the Financially Excluded  (With special reference to the rural population of the  Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh)

Dr. B. C. M. Patnaik; Dr. Ipseeta Satpathy; D.Litt; Avinash Supkar

Volume : III, Issue : XII, December - 2013

Mainstreaming the Financially Excluded (With special reference to the rural population of the Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh)

Dr. B. C. M. Patnaik, Dr. Ipseeta Satpathy, D. Litt, Avinash Supkar

Abstract :

About 60% of the population in India does not have access to a bank account. The vast number of poor population in India is situated in the villages. Out of the estimated 260 million Indians of the population who live in poverty are residing in rural areas. The population of financially excluded category in the rural areas mainly comprises of low income groups like landless labourers, small and marginal farmers and socially excluded communities. Poverty as a result of absence of income or irregular income, low education, lack of financial education, and location of financial service providers beyond close proximity, inaccessible terrains making it difficult for the service providers to offer basic financial services are the primary reasons of financial exclusion. However, in recent years, an accelerated exercise has been done through targeted mediations by the government and the Reserve Bank of India. The eleventh five year plan (2007–12) has focused on inclusive growth and has further emphasized the initiatives of financial inclusion as the underprivileged and the poor have enormous potential to contribute in attaining the objective of achieving a higher and faster inclusive growth. Accessing of financial services by the underprivileged and susceptible groups is a precondition for creating employment, poverty reduction, economic development, and social unity which will in the long run enable them to eak the shackles of poverty. This research paper is an attempt to understand the penetration of different initiatives of financial inclusion taken by different banks in the rural areas of the Varanasi district of Uttar Pradesh.