Banking to cover 100% Guj homes by April

AHMEDABAD: By April 15, not a single household covered under the last census in Gujarat will be left without a bank account. The state is all set to achieve 100 per cent financial inclusion with banks providing banking facilities to each household.
Sources said Gujarat will be the fourth state, and the most populous one, to achieve 100 per cent financial inclusion after Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi.
Banks in Gujarat have so far opened 95.63 lakh banks accounts, covering 97 per cent households with basic banking service. Out of 26 districts, households in 24 districts have already been fully covered by banks. Ahmedabad and Surat are the two districts where coverage stands at 96 per cent as of now.
���We are striving to achieve 100 per cent target before the middle of April,��� said Mukesh Kumar Jain, general manger, Dena Bank, and convenor of State Level Bankers��� Committee (SLBC).
There are in all 5,672 branches of banks in the state covering the population of just over five crore.
Based on the 2001 census, there were over 96.91 household, of which 53.45 lakh household were not covered under banking facilities. ���All banks together have covered almost all the households under a drive launched in January 2006,��� Jain added.
In November 2005, the Reserve Bank of India had announced a series of measures to include poorest of poor in the banking net and to free them from the clutches of unscrupulous money-lenders. Convenor banks of the SLBCs were given the responsibility of reaching 100 per cent financial inclusion.
The objective of the financial inclusion is to give benefits of all kind banking service to the people at affordable cost by opening bank accounts. Banking sources said that postal saving accounts are also covered under the drive.