An Empirical Study on Green Banking Initiatives by Private and Public Sector Banks and Customer's Awareness in Rural India

Reserve Bank of India de nes “Green Banking is an umbrella term referring to
practices and guidelines that makes banks sustainable in economic, environment
and social dimensions. It aims to make banking processes and the use of IT and
physical infrastructure as ef cient and effective as possible, with zero or minimal
impact on the environment”. Green banking is paperless banking, which not only
reduces the cost of banking activities but also helps in environment sustainability. It
was promoting environmental friendly practices and reducing the carbon footprint
from banking activities. It helps in reducing the use of paper, power and energy. The
prime bene t of the green banking approach is the protection of natural resources
and the environment. This study was conducted on green banking which included
the banks as well as the customers of the banks to know the various green banking
initiatives taken up by the banks and the customer’s knowledge on green banking
both in public sector and private sector banks in rural India.