Bhubaneswar: In a historic decision to ensure banking facilities in unbanked Gram Panchayats (GPs), the State Cabinet led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today approved a scheme to open a CSP Plus banking outlet with a cost of Rs 500 crore.
The State Cabinet has approved the scheme to open “CSP Plus” Banking Outlet in coordination with six Public Sector Banks (PSBs), namely State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank (PNB), UCO Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Bank of India in 4373 unbanked Gram Panchayats of the State with budgetary support of around Rs. 500 crores, said Finance Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha.
Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena and Principal Secretary Finance Vishal Kumar Dev also present there during the briefing.
Financial inclusion is a high priority agenda of the Government. For the State, Financial inclusion is still a critical challenge since banking penetration in the state is quite low, he said.
Out of 6798 GPs, around 65% of GPs (4373 GPs) do not have brick and mortar branches. Since banking is an essential service for financial inclusion, every GP of the State needs to be provided with a brick and mortar branch for uninterrupted banking services, Arukha said.
However, he said, the progress in terms of setting up brick and mortar branches in unbanked GPs by banks is very slow and negligible. Therefore, the State Government has come forward with an ambitious target of providing banking services to every GP through CSP Plus banking outlets.
The Minister further informed that the scheme will be implemented in a phased manner to cover all 4373 unbanked GPs in the State for providing banking services through CSP Plus banking outlets within the current financial year 2023-24.
The Government of Odisha will provide rent free banking space for 5 years. In addition to this, the Government will also bear one time expenses for Fixed Cost and Recurring expenses for a period of three years, he said.
Shri Arukha said the scheme will enhance the coverage of financial inclusion in the State in a big way. People residing in all unbanked Gram Panchayats of the State will have easy access to all kinds of banking services free of cost.
Senior citizens, differently-able people and pregnant women will get doorstep banking services and avail the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of the Government in a timely manner, he added.
