Getting rural India to register for Aadhaar, the unique identification number scheme, is going to be a rewarding experience for Banks. Leveraging on the government’s financial inclusion agenda, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has decided to pay Rs 50 per enrolment to Banks and Life Insurance Corporation of India, which are acting as its registrars, for signing up residents till March 2011. Besides, any person who is below...

Even before the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) finalizes the guidelines for handing out new bank licences, its draft proposal has evoked unease in the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), which oversees the country’s 82 regional rural Banks (RRBs). Nabard has taken exception to the banking regulator’s proposal to allow industrial houses to take over RRBs and convert them into full-fledged Banks, saying such a move could dilute...

The Reserve Bank of India has agreed to Jharkhand's request for Banks having at least one-day-per-week branch in every panchayat to help beneficiaries draw wages under MGNREGA and money under social security schemes, a senior official said here today."The RBI has agreed to our request that Banks should make efforts to open at least one-day-per-week branches in panchayats so that withdrawing wages under MGNREGA, (money under) social security and scholarships...

According to the National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) data on loans given out by nationalised and cooperative Banks, there are more farmers doing agriculture in Delhi than Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and West Bengal. The farmers in Delhi were allotted loan of Rs 22,077 crore in 2009 alone at mere 5% rate of interest, which is the second highest after agriculture-rich Punjab. Delhi’s loan disbursal amount is bizarre,...

While the National Advisory Council (NAC), Planning Commission and the Prime Minister Office are grappling over the proposed National Food Security Bill, the government has been steadily increasing allocation under the Targetted Public Distribution System (TPDS) during last many years. According to Siraj Hussain, chairman and managing director, Food Corporation of India (FCI), with the rise in procurement of wheat and rice by the corporation during last few years, more and...