Governance
Rural Odisha to get banking access
Odisha government has planned to provide banking access to rural areas of the state. Under this initiative, 340 brick-and-mortar branches and 337 fixed-location business correspondents (BCs) and ultra-small branches will be set up in 'un-banked' gram panchayats in next three years. The project was announced by Finance Minister Shashi Bhusan Behera during a recent state-level bankers' committee. He said, "I assure bankers that basic infrastructure will be provided to them in the gram panchayat headquarters. They will also get power connection to open brick-and-mortar branches or fixed-point BCs." Acknowledging the fact that lack of telephone and internet connectivity is the major limitation for the project, the minister requested Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited to provide the solution.
|