At a time when the government and regulators are emphasizing inclusion and increase in credit delivery to those without access to formal sources of finance, private sector banks are found to have low credit-deposit ratios in rural areas as compared to public sector counterparts. In a recent interaction at the state-level bankers committee (SLBC) meeting, in which Reserve Bank of India governor D Subbarao was present, bankers brought this to the...

The Smart Card Project is helping nearly 12.7 million poor people in Andhra Pradesh to get timely payment of wages It was conceived as a vehicle to promote financial inclusion by taking banking services to the unbanked poor, harnessing information and communications technology to ensure the benefits of public welfare programmes reach those they are intended for by plugging leakages. The Andhra Pradesh Smart Card Project, launched in 2007, is...

An ambitious scheme to make higher-education loans more attractive to poor students has failed to meet its target because of inadequate marketing and lack of coordination among various agencies. The scheme, launched in 2010 by the human resource development (HRD) ministry, gives full interest subsidy (a student will not have to pay the interest for the loan he or she avails) to students from families earning less than Rs.4.5 lakh a...

Corruption and inflation, the bugbears of UPA-2, dominated discussions Congress functionaries held with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee amid expectations from the party that a populist Budget would help check the negative tide against the Centre. Party leaders are hoping specifically for income tax relief for the middle class and concessions for rural populace as the budgetary antidote to the negativity post-2G spectrum scam. Mukherjee assured his party that prices would come down...

Organized retail of packed food and raw food reduces prices of food for urban citizens and pays farmers a better price for the agricultural produce. It eliminates middle men and decision making at every other level. This is not rocket science. However, politicians refuse to do away with the WWII public distribution system in order to retain power at the district level. Well, for one thing, the format of the...