IBA to replicate South African model of Financial Inclusion

Hyderabad, Nov 3 (UNI) The South African model of Financial Inclusion will be replicated in the country to make banking services accessible and affordable to the weaker sections of people, Indian Banks Association(IBA) Chairman V P Shetty said today.

Giving an overview of the ''Bancon-06'', Indian Banking conclave with the theme of Financial Inclusion, Mr Shetty, who is also Chairman and Managing Director of the IDBI Bank, pointed out that banks in South Africa had reduced transaction cost with appropriate use of technology.

The Banks in the country would adopt it to bing the over 50 per cent of the Financially excluded section into the banking net.

He said in the Union Territory of Pondicherry, the Indian Bank(IB) had launched a National Pilot Project for Financial Inclusion to achieve 100 per cent financial inclusion. The project enabled people to open savings bank accounts with zero/minimum balance with no frills attached to it.

Many Banks abroad had successfully tied up with mobile phone companies to achieve Financial Inclusion and in the United Kingdom, with the help of the Debit card, customers could access their bank account from any branch. In Brazil, businessmen were acting as agents of banks and provided various banking services to the people, he said.

Despite international crude oil price impact on business and economy, there was a healthy growth in demand for credit with the country registering a growth rate of eight per cent in the last three years. Efforts were on to make the growth equitable and sustainable for the betterment of every section of the society, he added.

UNI SM VV 1543