Seventh ranked TN vies to achieve the no 1 spot in financial inclusion index

Chennai:

Tamil Nadu, which is ranked seventh in the financial inclusion index in India, is vying to achieve the number one spot and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has urged bankers to redouble their efforts to achieve the goal.

Speaking on the occasion to mark the Special Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of Indian Overseas Bank and launch of bank’s schemes on Friday, Jayalalithaa urged the bankers to ensure that every village in the state is provided with a banking connection and redouble their efforts to raise Tamil Nadu to the number one ranking in the financial domain.

Ruing the fact that India has one-sixth of the 2.5 billion un-banked adults in the world, she said internationally countries with large proportion of the population excluded from the formal financial system show higher poverty ratios and higher inequality.

“The main instrument for sustainable and inclusive growth is employment and access to credit which in turn contributes to self-employment and poverty reduction. The fact that only 9.9 per cent of households in India have credit accounts underlines the scope for greater expansion of credit linkages,” she said.

Urging banks to leverage technology to reach out to people, she said the crucial dimension of financial inclusion, which her government welcomes banks’ participation in payment mechanism.

She said the state government would like to ensure that all the social security pensions are disbursed through banks. “The process has begun but needs to expand rapidly to cover all recipients. Similarly, the disbursement of wages under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act should also be done through the banking system,” she added.

She also urged the banks to help in fully implementing the Integrated Financial and Human Resources Management System which will make the transaction of government business fully automated.

Highlighting her vow to usher in second green revolution in the state, she said productivity enhancing investment in the sector is crucial and urged the banks to exceed the targets for agricultural credit in 2012-13.

She also sought banks help in implementing Tamil Nadu Urban Livelihood Mission, a project to reduce urban poverty.