Bhubaneswar: Odisha Government will sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Six Public Sector Banks to implement ‘CSP Plus’ Banking Outlet Program, said Vishal Kumar Dev, Principal Secretary Finance.
As the State Cabinet has approved the scheme to open “CSP Plus” Banking Outlet, Department of Finance will be signing Pact 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.
The MoU is being prepared for signing for CSP Plus Banking Outlets in 4373 unbanked Gram Panchayats of the State.
Shri Dev said that “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”.
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.
In fact 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.
This program 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 onetime expenses for Fixed Cost and Recurring expenses for a period of three years, he 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.
District Collectors will make the space ready for setting up Banking Outlets and funds will be placed with them soon.
Dateline has been assigned for such an initiative and the Program will be implemented in a time bound manner as the State Government is attaching highest priority for ‘Financial Inclusion’.
