Kerala became the first State recently to cover all households under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). Canara Bank, as lead banker, played a key role in implementing the scheme in the State. BusinessLine caught up with Canara Bank Executive Director PS Rawat to know more about the progress made under the PMJDY scheme at the bank and other issues. Edited excerpts:

How did you go about implementing the scheme in Kerala? Any learning which could be of use elsewhere?

Awareness programmes and financial literacy camps were conducted in all the 978 gram panchayats of the State. Over 11,000 camps were conducted for opening accounts. As convenor of SLBC Kerala, our bank was the first to introduce toll-free number (1800 425 11222) for information on PMJDY and redressal of grievances.

Besides regular follow-up and monitoring of progress by SLBC Kerala, Aadhaar penetration of over 92 per cent, one of the highest in the country, enabled quick opening of accounts and implementation of direct cash transfers.

The SLBC has ensured that all 978 gram panchayats are provided with a bank branch and Kerala is the first State to do so.

What has been the progress under PMJDY? Has your bank covered all the districts allotted to you by the Finance Ministry?

We have so far opened 50 lakh accounts against the targeted 32 lakh in about 29 districts across the country where we are the lead bankers.

At least one account per household has been opened in the sub-service areas or the lead districts allotted to us in the first stage.

Going by our survey in these districts, there exists potential to open more accounts among these households.

In Kerala, we have reached saturation. We have also embarked on an initiative to create awareness among the beneficiaries on the usage of their banking accounts and the participation has been encouraging.

Our effort is to get transactions in all the accounts and that should help them with the savings habit.

We have opened some 63 financial literacy centres across the country to create awareness.

How is the credit offtake from the corporate sector? Are you seeing any improvement this quarter?

At the moment, there is no big credit demand from corporates, but we are witnessing growth in agriculture, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and the retail segment.

With the launch of ‘Make in India’ initiative and the expected improvement in GDP, we expect some improvement in the coming days. Credit demand from the farm sector during the ongoing rabi season was relatively good.

We have witnessed a year-on-year credit growth of 22 per cent in agriculture and 30 per cent from the MSME segment.

The Centre wants regional rural banks to access markets for capital. A Bill was recently introduced in the Lok Sabha in this regard. What’s your view on this?

We have two RRBs under Canara Bank — one in Kerala, Kerala Grameen Bank, and another in Bellary, Pragati Krishna Grameen Bank. The introduction of the Bill is a good move. Allowing RRBs to access capital from the markets will strengthen them. I believe it will eventually help strengthen the rural as well as the national economy.

The RBI has recently extended the flexible refinance and repayment option for long-term infrastructure projects? When will you start implementing it?

Yes, the RBI has recently announced the rules. Depending on the requirement of the infrastructure projects, we are going to look at it on a case-to-case basis.

Any further update on your capitalisation plans and the proposed ₹3,000 crore QIP issue?

We are going ahead with the QIP (qualified institutional placement) and expect to launch the issue at an appropriate time depending on market conditions.

Do you have any exposure to SpiceJet?

No, we don't have any exposure to Spic Jet.

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