A Study on the Initiatives of the Banking Institutions towards Financial Inclusion Drive in the State of West Bengal

The ever-evolving concept of financial inclusion in India is all about providing financial services to people who are deprived of banking facilities in the rural areas. The government has endowed this responsibility to the nationalised banks, that have outsourced it to private limited companies. These companies have again outsourced it to various cooperative societies and other Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) known as ‘Business Correspondents’. These Business Correspondents appoint hundreds of Customer Service Providers (CSPs) who oversee the opening of bank accounts of the people in their respective villages. One of such companies, named Atyati Technologies Pvt Ltd based in Bangalore has outsourced this job to Nabadiganta Service Cooperative Society Ltd (NSCS). A random sample of fifty CSPs of NSCS, are taken into consideration. With this vision in mind this paper is an attempt to justify how much of the government’s endeavour is successful from the perspective of opening of bank accounts for individuals with low income. A questionnaire, regarding financial inclusion and the problems faced for such inclusion, is asked to the CSPs to observe, and highlight the actual scenario. Certain branches of this Co-operative Society with the Districts of West Bengal are considered in the study. This project is an attempt to focus the problems which might arise while carrying on the process of financial inclusion and to suggest constructive measures to improve the situation.