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Annual Policy Statement for the Year 2011-12 click here



Annual Monetary Policy Statement for the Year 2011-12- 3rd May 2011


Part B. Development and Regulatory Policies

IV. Credit Delivery and Financial Inclusion

Credit Flow to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Sector

High Level Task Force on MSMEs

88. As indicated in the Second Quarter Review of November 2010, the Reserve Bank, based on the recommendations of the High Level Task Force on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), issued guidelines in June 2010, advising scheduled commercial banks that the allocation of 60 per cent of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) advances to the micro enterprises was to be achieved in stages, viz., 50 per cent in the year 2010-11, 55 per cent in the year 2011-12 and 60 per cent in the year 2012-13. Further, banks were mandated to achieve a 10 per cent annual growth in the number of micro enterprise accounts and a 20 per cent year-on-year growth in credit to the MSE sector. The Reserve Bank is closely monitoring the achievement of targets by banks on a half-yearly basis, i.e., March and September each year. A suitable format has been devised by the Reserve Bank to capture and monitor the achievement of the targets by banks and the same are regularly reviewed at the highest level. Banks, which lag behind in achieving the targets, have been mandated to submit an action plan to achieve the prescribed targets.

Rural Credit Institutions

Licensing of Co-operatives

89. In terms of the recommendations of the Committee on Financial Sector Assessment (Chairman: Dr. Rakesh Mohan and Co-Chairman: Shri Ashok Chawla) and as proposed in the Annual Policy Statement of April 2009, the work relating to licensing of unlicensed state and central co-operative banks in a non-disruptive manner, in consultation with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), was initiated. Subsequent to the issuance of revised guidelines on licensing of state co-operative banks (StCBs)/district central co-operative banks (DCCBs), 10 StCBs and 144 DCCBs were licensed, bringing down the number of unlicensed StCBs from 17 to 7 and unlicensed DCCBs from 296 to 152 as on March 31, 2011.

Revival of the Rural Co-operative Credit Structure

90. The Government of India, based on the recommendations of the Task Force on Revival of Rural Co-operative Credit Institutions (Chairman: Prof. A. Vaidyanathan) and in consultation with the State Governments, had approved a package for revival of the short-term rural co-operative credit structure. As envisaged in the package, 25 States have entered into memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of India and NABARD and 20 States have amended their respective State Co-operative Societies Acts. As on February 28, 2011, an aggregate amount of ` 8,460 crore was released by NABARD for recapitalisation of primary agricultural credit societies (PACS) in 16 States as the Government of India’s share under the revival package.

Financial Inclusion through Grass-root Co-operatives

91. It was proposed in the Monetary Policy Statement of April 2010 to constitute a committee comprising representatives from the Reserve Bank, NABARD and a few State Governments to study the functioning of well-run PACS, large adivasi multi-purpose co-operative societies (LAMPS), farmers service societies (FSS) and thrift and credit co-operative societies set up under the parallel Self-Reliant Co-operative Societies Acts to gather information on their working and assess their potential to contribute to financial inclusion. The regional offices of the Reserve Bank have since given their inputs. Analysis, consolidation of data and preparation of State-wise reports are in progress and are expected to be completed by end-July 2011.

Malegam Committee Recommendations

92. In the wake of the Andhra Pradesh micro finance crisis in 2010, concerns were expressed by various stakeholders and the need was felt for more rigorous regulation of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) functioning as micro finance institutions (MFIs). As indicated in the Second Quarter Review of November 2010, a Sub-Committee of the Central Board of the Reserve Bank (Chairman: Shri Y. H. Malegam) was constituted to study issues and concerns in the MFI sector. The Committee submitted its report in January 2011, which was placed in public domain. The Committee, inter alia, recommended (i) creation of a separate category of NBFC-MFIs; (ii) a margin cap and an interest rate cap on individual loans; (iii) transparency in interest charges; (iv) lending by not more than two MFIs to individual borrowers; (v) creation of one or more credit information bureaus; (vi) establishment of a proper system of grievance redressal procedure by MFIs; (vii) creation of one or more “social capital funds”; and (viii) continuation of categorisation of bank loans to MFIs, complying with the regulation laid down for NBFC-MFIs, under the priority sector. The recommendations of the Committee were discussed with all stakeholders, including the Government of India, select State Governments, major NBFCs working as MFIs, industry associations of MFIs working in the country, other smaller MFIs, and major banks. In the light of the feedback received, it has been decided:

to accept the broad framework of regulations recommended by the Committee;

that bank loans to all MFIs, including NBFCs working as MFIs on or after April 1, 2011, will be eligible for classification as priority sector loans under respective category of indirect finance only if the prescribed percentage of their total assets are in the nature of "qualifying assets" and they adhere to the "pricing of interest" guidelines to be issued in this regard;

that a “qualifying asset’’ is required to satisfy the criteria of (i) loan disbursed by an MFI to a borrower with a rural household annual income not exceeding ` 60,000 or urban and semi-urban household income not exceeding ` 1,20,000; (ii) loan amount not to exceed ` 35,000 in the first cycle and ` 50,000 in subsequent cycles; (iii) total indebtedness of the borrower not to exceed ` 50,000; (iv) tenure of loan not to be less than 24 months for loan amount in excess of ` 15,000 without prepayment penalty; (iv) loan to be extended without collateral; (v) aggregate amount of loan, given for income generation, not to be less than 75 per cent of the total loans given by the MFIs; and (vi) loan to be repayable by weekly, fortnightly or monthly instalments at the choice of the borrower;

that banks should ensure a margin cap of 12 per cent and an interest rate cap of 26 per cent for their lending to be eligible to be classified as priority sector loans;

that loans by MFIs can also be extended to individuals outside the self-help group (SHG)/joint liability group (JLG) mechanism; and

that bank loans to other NBFCs would not be reckoned as priority sector loans with effect from April 1, 2011.

93. Detailed guidelines in this regard will be issued separately.

Redefining the Priority Sector

94. The Malegam Committee recommended that the existing guidelines on bank lending to the priority sector be revisited. Requests were also received from various quarters in the recent past to relook at the definition of the priority sector, especially when bank finance was being routed through other agencies. It is, therefore, proposed:

to appoint a committee to re-examine the existing classification and suggest revised guidelines with regard to priority sector lending classification.

Financial Inclusion Plan for Banks

95. As indicated in the Second Quarter Review of November 2010, all public and private sector banks were advised to put in place a Board approved three-year financial inclusion plans (FIPs) and submit them to the Reserve Bank by March 2010. These banks have since prepared and submitted their FIPs containing targets for March 2011, 2012 and 2013, to the Reserve Bank. These plans broadly include self-set targets in respect of rural brick and mortar branches opened; business correspondents (BCs) employed; coverage of unbanked villages with population above 2,000 as also other unbanked villages with population below 2,000 through branches/BCs/other modes; no-frill accounts opened including through BC-ICT; kisan credit cards (KCCs) and general credit cards (GCCs) issued; and other specific products designed by them to cater to the financially excluded segments.

96. The implementation of these plans is being closely monitored by the Reserve Bank on a quarterly basis. The analysis of progress reports of above plans received from all public and private sector banks shows that during the period April 2010 to March 2011, banks opened 5,214 new branches, deployed 25,403 BCs/customer service providers (CSPs) and provided banking services in 43,337 villages. Out of these, 525 villages were covered through rural brick and mortar branches, 42,506 villages through BCs and 306 villages through other modes such as ATMs and mobile vans. It is important to note that banks covered 24,066 villages with population above 2,000, in addition to covering 19,271 villages with population below 2,000.

Branch Authorisation Policy

97. Domestic scheduled commercial banks (excluding regional rural banks [RRBs]) were permitted in December 2009 to open branches in Tier 3 to Tier 6 centres (with population up to 49,999) without prior permission of the Reserve Bank. However, prior authorisation from the Reserve Bank was required for opening of branches in Tier 1 and Tier 2 centres which was granted based, inter alia, on the (i) number of branches opened in Tier 3 to Tier 6 centres under general permission; (ii) branches proposed to be opened in under-banked districts in under-banked States; and (iii) bank's performance in areas of financial inclusion and customer service. It was observed that on an average scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) opened about 20 per cent of the total number of new branches in rural centres (Tier 5 and Tier 6) in the last two years.

98. There is a need to step up the opening of branches in rural areas so as to improve banking penetration and financial inclusion rapidly and meet the targets set out for providing banking services in villages with population over 2,000. The FIPs submitted by banks indicate that banks propose to use BCs in a big way to reach out to unbanked villages. Keeping in view the goal of bringing banking services to identified 72,800 villages by March 2012 and thereafter progressively to all villages over a period of time, there is a need for opening of more brick and mortar branches, besides the use of BCs. Accordingly, domestic SCBs are being mandated:

to allocate at least 25 per cent of the total number of branches to be opened during a year to unbanked rural (Tier 5 and Tier 6) centres.

Urban Co-operative Banks

Licenses for Setting up new Urban Co-operative Banks

99. As announced in the Monetary Policy Statement of April 2010, an Expert Committee (Chairman: Shri Y. H. Malegam) was constituted in October 2010 with representations from all stakeholders for studying the advisability of granting licenses for setting up new urban co-operative banks (UCBs) under Section 22 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 [as applicable to co-operative societies (AACS)]. The Committee will also look into the feasibility of an umbrella organisation for the UCB sector. The Committee is expected to submit its report by end-June 2011.

Financing of Self-Help Group/Joint Liability Group by UCBs

100. With a view to further expanding the outreach of UCBs and opening an additional channel for promoting financial inclusion, which would also help the UCBs in achieving the sub-target of lending to weaker sections, it is proposed:

to permit UCBs to lend to SHGs/JLGs; and

to keep lending to SHGs out of the norm on unsecured advances.

Exposure of UCBs to Housing, Real Estate and Commercial Real Estate

101. Pursuant to the announcements made in the Second Quarter Review of November 2010, UCBs were permitted to lend up to 10 per cent of their total assets to housing, real estate and commercial real estate and an additional 5 per cent of total assets for purchase and construction of dwelling units costing up to ` 10 lakh. Keeping in view the representations received from UCBs and their associations that they are finding it difficult to use the additional limit of 5 per cent of total assets due to the high cost of dwelling units, it is proposed:

to permit UCBs to utilise the additional 5 per cent of their total assets permitted earlier, for housing loans up to ` 15 lakh.

Internet Banking Facility

102. With increasing expectation of customers of UCBs for better products and services on par with commercial banks, the opening up of internet banking channel to UCBs will enable them to retain their customer base. It is, therefore, proposed:

to permit scheduled UCBs satisfying certain criteria to provide internet banking facility to their customers.

103. Detailed guidelines will be issued separately.

Membership of Negotiated Dealing System

104. Pursuant to the Second Quarter Review of November 2010, all licensed UCBs were allowed the facility of Indian Financial Network (INFINET) membership, current and subsidiary general ledger (SGL) accounts with the Reserve Bank and real time gross settlement (RTGS) membership to well managed and financially sound UCBs having a minimum net worth of ` 25 crore. In order to further enable UCBs to serve their customers better, it is now proposed:

to permit well managed and financially sound UCBs to become members of the negotiated dealing system (NDS).

105. Detailed guidelines are being issued separately.

Customer Service

106. Pursuant to the announcement made in the Monetary Policy Statement of April 2010, a Committee on Customer Service (Chairman: Shri M. Damodaran) was constituted to look into banking services rendered to retail and small customers, including pensioners. Apart from formal meetings, the Committee members have conducted meetings with various stakeholders across the length and breadth of the country. The report is in the process of being finalised.



Click Here For Highlights of Annual Policy Statement for the Year 2011-12

Click Here For Macro economic and Monetary Developments : 2010-11













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