As per directives of RBI to start 100% Financial Inclusion in at least one district of each State, Hooghly District was identified. The district reportedly has completed 100% Financial Inclusion by May 2007. At the instance of RBI, Jadavpur University conducted a study at Hooghly district as regards extent of Inclusion. They have submitted their report to RBI a copy of which has been made available to the SLBC. The report is under examination. Eight more districts of the State have been identified for 100% Financial Inclusion where work is in progress. District wise Progress Report up to June 2008 has been annexed. It is seen from those reports that out of 48.18 lac households residing in these eight districts, 33.92 households (70%) have been brought under Financial inclusion. The reports of each districts have been annexed along with a summary.

Under the mission Universal Financial Inclusion by March 2012 launched at the call of Dr Asim Dasgupta, Hon’ble Finance Minister of West Bengal on the occasion of 100^th SLBC meeting, all other districts have been advised to implement the programme village wise in phases and complete the work by March 2012. During the current quarter, all banks have opened 2.99 lac No Frills A/cs and issued 5769 General credit Cards. Progress Reports in respect of these two schemes have been annexed.

Extension of Banking facility at Gram Panchayats in West Bengal – Setting up of a Task Force:

The Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India, Kolkata in his D O letter no RPCD (KOL) 1819/03.01.002/2008-09 dated 17.12.2007 addressed to convener, SLBC ,WB, desired SLBC to set up a Task Force to look into the above issue and draw a time frame for opening bank branches in Gram Panchayats where banks do not exist. Details on terms of Reference and membership of the Task Force have been proposed in the letter itself.

The Task Force has been formed which after conducting three meetings have drafted the recommendations for finalization and submission to RBI. The major recommendations are as under:

I. To consider opening of branches in 1/3^rd of the 938 unbanked Gram Panchayats within a period of next three years and the process must start immediately.

II. The task of opening bank branches in the remaining 2/3^rd unbanked Gram Panchayats will be taken up in phases and completed within two blocks of three years each.

III. RBI will play a controlling role in allocating branches to be opened by each bank in these unbanked GPs. The RBI may consider relaxing its licensing policy and encouraging RRBs, Coop banks, Pvt. Commercial banks and also Public sector commercial banks to open branches in these GPs. RRBs and Coop banks should be treated at par with the Commercial banks for such purpose. License for seting up one branch in metro/urban/Semi urban area may be issued only if the bank agrees to open one branch in these unbanked GPs simultaneously. The above norms should be made applicable for Pvt Banks and other banks not having rural branches in proportion to their total no of branches.

IV. RBI may introduce bidding process for opening of branches in these GPs and should give top priority in issuing licenses for the branches proposed to be opened in these areas. The performance of these newly opened branches can be reviewd on yearly basis.

V. The State Government will provide premises for these branches adjacent to Gram Panchayat Offices against standard rent, if necessary by undertaking construction work, and also other infrastructural facilities like Road (free), Power (against charges).

VI. The State Govt will keep all deposits of the Gram Panchayats with these branches if opened in the GP premises. These branches normally should attain viability within three years. All payments in relation to National Rural Employment Gurantee Scheme will be made through these branches. All Govt. grants passed on to the Gram panchayats should be kept with these branches.

VII. Relocation of branches of banks should also be encouraged to cover the unbanked GPs

VIII. Banks may appoint PACs as Business Correspondent and Business Facilitators.

IX. Mobile Van services / Satellite Offices may be introduced /set up. Recourse to technology available with established Business Correspondents (FINO, Little World etc.) can be made use of for providing banking services in GPs where it is found not feasible to open branches. Extensive use of Business Facilitators is also recommended. Banking technology that has developed in the recent past enables the banking system to increase their outreach to the remotest areas without opening brick & mortar branches in those areas. In other words, leveraging of tecghnology enables the banks to reach customers to their doorsteps, instead of necessitating the customers to reach the bank. The essence of all technology models that have been adopted by different banks in this respect features the issue of a Smart Card to the customers on which all his transactions are recorded. A hand-held device and a mobile phone provided to The Business Correspondent (BC) identify the person holding the Smart Cards. A Central Processor Unit which is linked with the Smart Cards and the hand-held terminal provided to the BC records all transactions made by the customers at the village level which are ultimately accounted for in customers’ A/Cs maintained at thebranch.After

each transaction the hand-held terminal generates two print outs -- one of which is delivered to the Customers for their record. The procedure is very simple and highly secured against impersonation / fraud etc. Setting up of low cost Biometric ATMs in rural areas can also be an alternate channel to provide banking facilities in unbanked GPs not found viable for opening of a branch.

United Bank of India and State Bank of India have already introduced such technology based banking services in areas not having banking facilities.

Extending relief measures by bankers to Bird Flu affected Poultry Industry

Incidents of Bird Flu broke out in the 15 districts of West Bengal during December 2007 & January 2008 causing considerable loss to Poultry units on account of culling of birds and fall in the demand for poultry products. On February 19, 2008 RBI issued guidelines for relief measures to be taken by banks to poultry industry. The guidelines were as under:

1. Principal and interest due on working capital loans as also installments and interest on term loans which have fallen due for payment on / after the onset of bird flu, i.e. December 31, 2007 and remaining unpaid may be converted into term loans. The converted loans may be recovered in installments based on projected future inflows over a period up to three years with an initial moratorium of up to one year (the first year of repayment may be fixed after the expiry of moratorium period).

2. The remaining portion of term loans may be rescheduled similarly with a moratorium period up to one year depending upon the cash flow generating capacity of the unit.

3. The reschedulement / conversion may be completed on or before April 30, 2008.

4. The rescheduled / converted loans may be treated as current due.

5. After conversion as above, the borrower will be eligible for fresh need based finance.

6. The relief measures as above may be extended to all accounts of poultry industry, which were classified as standard accounts as on December 31, 2007.

The Bankers acted as per the above guidelines and allowed rephasing/restructuring to the eligible affected poultry units. Fresh finance has also been extended to the affected borrowers a detail of which has been given in the Annexure. A total sum of Rs.7.23 crore has been disbursed up to June 2008. As the affected units are mostly backyard poultry undertaken by SHGs, the quantum of loan sanctioned has been less. However, a good no. of proposals involving about Rs 30.00 crore is under process in SBI which are likely to be sanctioned in the current/coming quarters. Proposals of about Rs 5.00 crore is also reportedly under process and are to be disposed of shortly.

Final position of Debt Waiver & Debt Relief

The Hon’ble Union Finance Minister announced the above scheme in his Budget speech for 2008-09 and the detailed circular on implementation of the scheme was issued on 23.05.2008. Since then all the bankers got themselves involved in the work with full enthusiasm and completed identification of beneficiary borrowers within the scheduled date -30.06.2008. Tables showing number of farmers with amount involved found eligible to get the benefit of Debt Waiver & Debt Relief have been annexed. These include Agency wise and district wise break up separately. Another table showing number of farmers whose loan accounts were written off earlier by the banks and have become eligible for fresh loans have also been annexed. Position of disposal of grievances has also been shown in a separate table. The summary position is as under:

Financing the Minority Community and backward classes
The under noted twelve districts of the State have been identified as Minority concentrated districts:

Position of outstanding credit to Minorities during last three years in West Bengal

The rate of growth in the outstanding Advance to Minorities in the State had picked up remarkably during 2008-09 when a growth of over 117% was achieved over the outstanding of previous year. The present Priority sector Advance to Minority Community at the end of Sept 2011 has increased by 26.58% compared to 14.68% growth decline in the total Prisec Advance. Our objective is to ensure that the Minority communities and backward classes receive a fair and equitable portion of the credit within the overall target of the Priority sector. Formation of SHGs should be popularized amongst the Minorities and other backward classes as well.

Tables showing bank wise disbursement of loans to Minority Communities, Scheduled castes and scheduled Tribes and also other backward classes have been annexed.

The summary position is as under:

Statement  of 100% Financial Inclusion position as on 31.03.2011

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