Stating that Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) are playing a significant role in rural development, Executive Director of Canara Bank Brij Mohan Sharma on Friday told bankers to lend loans without any inhibition to leverage the living standards of people living below poverty lines.
He was addressing bank officials after unveiling a name board to mark the naming of the Head Office of Karnataka Vikas Grameena (KVG) Bank in Dharwad as Vikas Bhavan on Friday.
Mr. Sharma said that over 70% of the people in the country lived in villages and despite various measures, there has not been much improvement in their living standards. Bank officials should sanction them loans without any inhibition so that they can climb the ladder of economic progress and thereby improve their living standards.
He said that the main objective of RRBs should be inclusive growth and it should be achieved by promoting financial inclusion, financial literacy, accelerating priority sector lending, inculcating repayment habits and motivating them to avail of digital banking.
He urged bankers to introduce bankable schemes and open financial literacy and credit counselling centres to improve the credit flow in the region.
In the last four decades, the Canara Bank-sponsored KVG Bank has been instrumental in the development of rural areas, particularly in improving the quality of life of the farming community. Collective responsibility should be shown to ensure the development of villages without forgetting personal customer service, he said.
Making the introductory remarks, Chairman of KVG Bank P. Gopi Krishna said that the bank has registered good growth every year and its business has crossed ₹27,800 crore. KVG Bank is committed to providing banking services to the rural community and accordingly, various schemes and programmes are being implemented. The bank currently serves over 2,045 villages with 629 branches.
General Manager of Canara Bank, Hubballi Circle, G.S. Ravisudhakara lauded KVG Bank for its constructive role in the development of this region. General Managers of KVG Bank Chandrasekhar D. Moro, B.C. Ravichandra and P. Srinivasa Rao were present.
KVG Bank’s head office spread over two acres of land was inaugurated in 1994 when it served as the head office of the erstwhile Malaprabha Grameena Bank.
In 2005, after amalgamation of four RRBs (Malaprabha, Bijapura, Varada and Netravati Grameena Bank), the bank was renamed as Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank and subsequently, all products and services of the bank were renamed with the brand name, “Vikas”.
