f i nanc i a l i nc lu s i on i n i nd i a
31
banking financial institutions like the post offices and
cooperative banks to transfer the benefits and financial
services. MPFI model came up with ‘Shadow Area’ as an
area that does not have any brick and mortar financial
institution such as RRBs/commercial banks within a
5 km radius and shifted the criteria of RBI and govern-
ment from ‘population’ to ‘shadow area’. Government
did not want to take up the population approach towards
financial inclusion as by doing so banking facilities would
be provided in a graded manner and villages would have
to wait for longer periods of time to avail the facility.
10
The banks in MP were advised to open their USBs and
CSPs in these shadow areas. An annual cash transfer
flow of Rs. 4.5 million was however required to ensure
viability of these Ultra-Small Branches. Hence govern-
ment ensured that all disbursements irrespective of
schemes and departments went to the same account.
Also the account of the Panchayat was also shifted to the
USB. BCs have been appointed for running USBs and
these banks are being established at a very low cost due
to a simple system of information technology and small
equipment. By doing so, the average annual cash transfer
per USB exceeds Rs. 10 million which makes it viable.
Till June 2013, 1,761 such facilities USB (Ultra Small
Banks) have been provided.
According to the latest data, the model has resulted
in the opening of 76.5 lakh bank accounts in the state.
For this, 14,697 unserviced villages were identified
where banking services were not available within 20 to
70 km and a drive was launched to open 2,998 USBs.
These banks which were opened in 2,400 small villages
across the state have transacted business worth Rs. 18
billion.
11
Samriddhi model has received a lot of attention from
other states and the central government has decided to
implement the Madhya Pradesh model in the entire
country.
2.4 FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN EXCLUDED
AND REMOTE AREAS
Practitioners and researchers feel that the specificities of
hills, remote areas and disaster-prone areas, particularly
the inaccessibility and scattered population on the one
hand and the risk to livelihoods on the other, need to be
taken into account while formulating financial inclusion
policy.
The Rangarajan Committee 2008 had identified the
extent of exclusion to be the highest in mountain states
and resource-poor states. The reasons for exclusion were
diagnosed as: (i) inaccessibility (ii) high transaction cost
(iii) documentation barrier (iv) behavioural aspects (v)
high risk and (vi) inappropriate products. Financial
inclusion measures in the sparsely populated villages of
hill areas and in other unfavourable geographies have
been relatively few. Though efforts have been made by
banks to pilot various financial inclusion schemes in such
locations, the impact has been generally mixed. However,
a couple of innovative institutional and programme
interventions provide a more optimistic picture.
B
OX
2.4
SAMAGRA Database, Madhya Pradesh
The concept of social security integration called SAMAGRA is the front end of the model and carries a multi-utility
database that was initiated in the year 2010. An Integrated Social Security Mission (SSSM), SAMAGRA constitutes of creation and
integration of a common database for system integration of all benefit schemes of the government. SAMAGRA captures the one
word—both of individuals/households and their characteristics along with the available government schemes, eligibility, features
and benefits of the schemes in Health, Human Resource Development, Social Security and Education. Each individual and
household has been provided with a unique identification number called Samagra number. SSSM nearly covers 25 million
beneficiaries. SAMAGRA ensures appropriate match between the beneficiaries and the eligibility quoted in the government
schemes and thus supports the government in appropriate utilization of funds. NIC and SSSM have come up with a portal,
samagra.gov.in, for the effective implementation of Madhya Pradesh Integrated Social Security Program for ensuring good and
transparent governance. At present benefits are being transferred into the bank accounts of the beneficiaries through SSSM in 15
districts of the state.
Source
: Bhatnagar and Gupt (2014).
