The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) public outreach programme to create awareness about the financial services offered by the banks and accelerate IT-based banking being held in eight villages of the State has attracted a good response from the public.
More such programme has been planned for these eight villages of which nearly half are in southern Tamil Nadu. A financial literacy programme is scheduled on Tuesday at Ramapuram/Andarkulam Village in Kanyakumari District for self-help group members and National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) beneficiaries, Mr. Selvaraj told The Hindu on Sunday.
The Apex Bank’s outreach team has carried out detailed base line survey to assess the banking requirements of the residents of eight villages and has collected extensive details such as total number of households, the extent of financial inclusion through the number of people with banks accounts and without one were identified, he said.
Giving an example, he said that Ramapuram/Andarkulam village comprised 570 households of whom 462 had bank accounts and 81 had access to credit facilities. It is being served by a branch of Indian Overseas Bank at Marungoor, which is situated at a distance of 4 km.
A RBI team conducted a ‘financial literacy sessions’ to students of Standard IX and X on November 13 and a ‘Coin/Note exchange’ mela for residents the next day at Andarkulam, said Mr. Selvaraj.
The villages identified are: Thippireddihalli in Dharmapuri, Punnam in Erode, Servaikaranpatti in Tirunelveli, Nallur in Tuticorin, Andarkulam in Kanyakumari, Thangammalpuram in Theni, Vadakudi in Nagapattinam, and Sorakolathur in Tiruvannamalai.
Being undertaken as part of the RBI’s Platinum Jubilee Year (2009-10) celebrations, the apex bank is conducting sensitisation programmes through its Regional Offices to create awareness about RBI and how the Bank, as a key policy institution, touches the lives of people across the country in issues of everyday concern - price stability, protection of peoples deposits and interest rates.
The programmes also focus on helping people detect fake note by elaborating the features of currency notes, banking activities and customer service.
