Mangalore: Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka has achieved total financial inclusion. At a function here recently, Mr M. Maheshwara Rao, Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada, handed over the certificate of full financial inclusion of the district to the representative from RBI.
The bank branches in the district opened 89,252 ‘no-frills’ savings bank accounts and provided general purpose credit cards to 3,546 families, amounting to Rs 5.99 crore.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr K.U. Shanbhag, Deputy General Manager of Syndicate Bank, said that the branch network of banks in the district has been widely spread that one bank branch or branch of cooperative society caters to 3,100 people. The district has 370 branches of public sector banks and private banks and 115 primary agriculture cooperative societies.
Introduction of financial inclusion in the district has helped the banks to increase their clientele base and also helped the beneficiaries of many government-sponsored schemes. He said that full financial inclusion will be useful for smooth implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme for disbursement of wages at village level. Though the district is fully financially included, the scheme continues to operate and all branches in the district have been directed to open ‘no-frills’ savings bank accounts, Mr Shanbhag added.
