Banks should serve poor in villages: Ashok

BANGALORE: Banks should move to rural areas and reach out to poor, Home Minister R Ashok said.Speaking after inaugurating Srimatha Mahila Sahakari Bank’s new office, he said, “Most of the banks are based in cities. The need of the hour for banks is to move out from urban areas, particularly Bangalore city. Banking services have to be provided to the poor living in rural parts too.” Banks have over concentrated on the people living in cities and lending loans to the same people time and again, he observed. “There are no banking              facilities for underprivileged women,” the home minister said. Appreciating the cooperative banking model adopted by Srimatha Mahila Sahakari Bank, he said that cooperative banking should receive support. “Women have to be brought into mainstream economic activity and one way of doing this is by setting up more cooperative banks,” the minister observed. Established in 2000, Srimatha Mahila Sahakari Bank provides easy credit and microfinance loans to women with an aim to empower them and secure their future. “Our processes are simple as we want to bring in transparency into banking,” Vice-president of the bank Usha Nagaraj said. The bank also provides financial counselling to women every Thursday.The occasion also marked the tenth anniversary of the bank. Speaking after launching the bank’s website (www.srimathabank.com), Vice-chancellor of Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) Dr Geetha Bali said, “Women need respect and self-dependence. Cooperative banks are bringing about a movement in rural areas.”