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Why Financial Inclusion
“Swabhimaan”- the Financial Inclusion Campaign
To increase the penetration and FI, the “Swabhimaan” campaign was launched in pursuance of
Budget Announcement (2010-11). Government advised banks to open branches in all habitations of 5,000 or more population in under-banked districts and 10,000 or more population in other districts under this campaign. In two years time ending March 2012,
Banking facilities were provided to 74,194 such villages. Further, 62,468 Banking Correspondent
Agents (BCAs) were appointed and about 3.16 FI accounts had been opened by end of March,
2012.
To build on the momentum and success achieved, the “Swabhimaan” campaign was extended as per Budget Announcement (2012-13) to habitations with population of more than 1000 in North Eastern and hilly States and to other habitations which have crossed population of 2,000 as per Census 2011. About 45,000 such habitations have been identified to be covered under the extended “Swabhimaan” campaign. Bank branches in 1237 such villages have been opened in the current year.
The objective of Financial Inclusion(FI) is to extend financial services to the large hitherto unserved population of the country to unlock its growth potential. In addition, it strives to achieve more inclusive growth by making financing available to the poor in particular.
FI enables Banks to channelize the savings of the unserved population of the country and offers new business avenues for lending to this group. Prior to the recent sustained efforts on FI, the banks were barely scrapping the potential business ,both on the deposit and lending side.
Rural incomes have grown rapidly in a short time span due to high priority accorded by the Govt. to rural development and employment programs. A survey by CRISIL, a ratings and research firm, has reported in August 2012 that for the first

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