BHUBANESWAR: The Government has advised small finance and payment banks to extend banking service to un-banked areas of Odisha.Addressing a meeting of the banks here, Principal Secretary in the Finance Department TK Pandey invited new players in the niche banking sector to the State, so that they can fulfil their obligation of serving the unserved rural areas of the State. Pandey gave an overview of the growth potential of the State and rapid strides made in the recent years in socio-economic and infrastructure development fronts.
Senior executives of six Payment Banks (India Post, FINO payment Bank, PayTm, Airtel Payment Bank, Reliance Jio Infocom and Aditya Birla Idea Payment Bank) and five Small Finance Banks (ESAF Small Finance Bank, JANALAKSHMI Small Finance Bank, Suryoday Small Finance Bank, AU Small Finance Bank and UJJIVAN Small Finance Bank) attended the meeting.
It was agreed that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will provide a list of 700 unbanked gram panchayats for which these banks may indicate their preference within a month for opening their banking points. Senior executives of the banks agreed to the proposal and said they will submit their proposals to the RBI and State Government.
Representatives of the small finance banks and payment banks praised the initiative of the State Government and RBI to bring together the new banks under a single platform and present before them a window of opportunities for expansion of their network.
A GIS-based banking network portal for Odisha developed by RBI in collaboration with Odisha Space Applications Centre (ORSAC) has also been developed as a planning tool. SP Mohanty, General Manager, FIDD, RBI, Bhubaneswar delivered the welcome address and General Manager (OIC), RBI, Bhubaneswar, PK Das addressed the participants.
A presentation on the state’s economy, infrastructure, socio-economic indicators, banking network and business opportunities for the small finance and payment banks to serve the unbanked rural centres was also made.