FM asks banks to collaborate with Postal department

Hyderabad, Nov 3 (UNI) Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram today urged all banks to explore possibilities of collaborating with the Postal department to provide credit and other banking services to the 48 per cent of financially excluded people.

Inaugurating the ''Bancon-06'', Indian Banking Conclave here at the Hyderabad Internation Convention Centre, the Minister said ''in India, 48 per cent of households, 51 per cent of the farmers and 78 per cent of non-farm rural households are out of the purview of banking credit''.

Praising the post offices for doing a wonderful job in accepting Income Tax returns, he exhorted the banks to provide banking services through the huge network of post offices.

Appreciating the banks' eagerness to adopt new modes such as Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) and mobile banking to reach out to the customers, he said ''new ideas are worth experimenting.

However, the regional rural banks, set up to take credit to rural India, should not be rendered as a ''blunt instrument''.

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