Financial inclusion

The government is open to the idea of providing financial support to banks for implementing financial inclusion as the lenders fear that the move may be unviable in initial years.The government in a recent meeting with banks expressed it was open to the idea of subvention in initial years. The government met representatives of 32 banks to identify the challenges facing them for implementing financial inclusion.The government has embarked on an ambitious plan to cover all villages having a population of more than 2000 to have banking facilities by March 31,2012.There are about 64000 villages in the country with a population over 2000 lacking a formal banking channel.The central bank is currently reviewing the plans on financial inclusion submitted by banks.RBI had asked banks to submit their board-approved p;ans of financial inclusion for 2010-11 (BS 06052010)