Arun Jaitley to meet heads of PSU banks today; financial inclusion high on agenda

Finance minister Jaitley

FINANCE minister Arun Jaitley is meeting the heads of PSU banks today (July 31), which will be his first meeting with all the heads of public sector lenders and financial institutions on comprehensive financial inclusion agenda.
A media report said the finance minister would discuss with them ways to push financial inclusion agenda announced...
in the Budget 2014-15.
In the Budget 2014-15 speech Jaitley had said: "To provide all households in the country with banking services, a time bound programme would be launched as Financial Inclusion Mission on August 15.
"It would particularly focus to empower the weaker sections of the society, including women, small and marginal farmers and labourers. Two bank accounts in each household are proposed to be opened which will also be eligible for credit," he had said.
Comprehensive financial inclusion aims at providing all households in the country with banking services, with special focus on empowering the weaker sections, including women, small and marginal farmers and labourers - both urban and rural.
Lowering of interest rate, bad loans, credit to farm sector and financial performance are also likely to figure in the meeting.
In a bid bid achieve this mission, the Department of Financial Services is organising an exhibition on August 11 to understand the available technologies to provide last mile financial services for bank accounts opening, card issuance and for providing online transaction services.
According a rough estimate, about 15 crore accounts would be needed to cover all households under the plan. The plan envisages a comprehensive coverage of all excluded households in the country by a 6-pillar approach including Universal access to banking facility, micro insurance and providing basic banking accounts with overdraft facility and RuPay Debit card with inbuilt accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh.