Narendra Modi set to revamp financial inclusion; to unveil new scheme on August 15

Business

oi-Sunil

By Sunil Fernandes

Published: Monday, July 21, 2014, 9:11 [IST]

MUMBAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to give a big boost to the ongoing financial inclusion drive by unveiling a comprehensive programme, to be announced at the Red Fort in his address to the nation on Independence Day.

The proposed comprehensive financial inclusion programme envisaging insurance and pension cover, apart from a default cover for lenders is likely to envisage opening 15 crore more bank accounts, 12 crore of which will be in rural areas over next four years, according to a note sent to the Indian Banks Association (IBA) by financial services Secretary GS Sandhu.

According to the note, Modi's new comprehensive financial inclusion programme has three major shifts from the one pursued by the previous government.

First, the earlier efforts at financial inclusion had villages as the unit for coverage while the present plan focuses on coverage of households. Secondly, only rural areas have been the focus so far while both rural and urban areas have been included now, says the ministry note.Thirdly, the present plan is proposed to be implemented as a 'mission mode' project. It envisages a comprehensive coverage of all excluded households by a six-pillar approach in two phases, according to the note.

The first phase of the programme, which begins from August 15 this year and ends August 14, 2015 will provide basic banking accounts with overdraft facility of Rs 5,000 and RuPay debit card with inbuilt accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh and creation of credit guarantee fund for coverage of defaults in overdraft accounts, according to the ministry.

PTI