Swabhimaan (campaign)

Swabhimaan is a campaign of the Government of India which aims to bring banking services to large rural areas. It was launched by Smt. Sonia Gandhi, the Chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance party in the presence of Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the Union Finance Minister and Shri Namo Narain Meena, the Union Minister of State for Finance on February 10, 2011.^[1] This campaign is to be operated by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India and the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) to bring banking within the reach of the masses of the Indian population.

An initiative which seeks better financial inclusion within India will strive for rolling out banking services in 20,000 villages without banking services with a population of 2000 by March 2012 as to improve participation of rural folks in different plans launched by government for them. Under this plan, Banks will select business correspondents (bank saathi). They will act as intermediaries between the rural people and the banks. The government has targeted to cover at least 74,000 new habitations with a population of 2,000 and above and open at least 50 million new accounts by March 2012.

The key idea is that there is need for village level presence – a customer-facing channel that is close to the customer preferably at a walking distance of not more than three to four kilometers. For this, it is important to have entities which are good at delivering outreach while operating in very difficult remote conditions. Besides giving access to banking, it also enables government subsidies and social security benefits to be directly credited to the accounts of the beneficiaries, enabling them to draw the money from the bank saathi or business correspondents in their village itself.

Services Offered:

• Promises to bring basic banking services to unbanked villages with a population of 2000 and above.
• The movement facilitates opening of banks accounts, provide need-based credit and remittance facilities besides helping in promoting financial literacy in rural India.
• The programme is aimed at increasing the demand for credit among the millions of small and marginal farmers and rural artisans who will benefit by having access to banking facilities.
• This financial inclusion campaign aims at providing branchless banking services through the use of technology.

Banks provide basic services like deposits, withdrawals and remittances using the services of Business Correspondents (BCs) also known as Bank Saathi.

• The initiative also enables Government subsidies and social security benefits to now be directly credited to the accounts of the beneficiaries so that they could draw the money from the Business Correspondents (BCs) in their village itself.
• The Government hopes that the benefits of micro insurance and micro pension products reach the masses through this banking linkage.
• This programme now makes it possible for the large number of migrant workers in urban areas to remit money to their relatives in distant villages quickly and safely.
• The facilities provided through banking outlets will enhance social security by facilitating the availability of allied services in course of time like micro insurance, access to mutual funds, pensions, etc.
• Banking facilities like Savings Bank, recurring Deposits, Fixed deposits, Remittances, Overdraft facility, Kisan Credit Card (KCCs), General Credit Cards (GCC) and collection of cheques will be provided.
• The Banks are also working together with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for enrolment, opening bank accounts and also to facilitate transfer of government subsidies and other payments.

References