‘Regional rural banks are critical to financial inclusion’

Ashraf Engineer

February 15, 2023

Did you know that regional rural banks, or RRBs, have 28.3 crore depositors and 2.6 crore borrowers? They were created to provide rural areas with basic banking services, and they also disburse pensions and NREGA wages. With the government infusing Rs 10,890 crore to recapitalise RRBs, greenlighting their listing on stock exchanges and pushing operational reforms, can they become booster rockets for financial inclusion? And why are RRBs so critical to the rural and overall national economy? Davinder Sandhu, who has more than 35 years of experience in policy formulation and is co-founder and chairman of advisory firm Primus Partners, speaks to All Indians Matter. Davinder has also been Sector Director for Transport and Disaster Management at the PMO, Country Representative at the Executive Board of the World Bank Group and Head of Network Operations at the Indian Railways.