Lucknow, Mar 30 (KNN) Uttar Pradesh now has 300 more new bank branches opened with an aim to make deposit of savings more easier for the people particularly in the rural areas.

 “Bank branches are important for many reasons. People complain that they cannot open their bank account. If there is no bank branch say within 10 kilometre how do you open a bank account.

"Without bank branch how do you reach to the people to mobilise their savings. I am very happy that now there is a rising demand to open a bank branch in our towns and villages. I am sure that the bankers will respond to it," said Finance Minister, P Chidambaram, while inaugurating the new branches here yesterday.

Chidambaram also met the UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav yesterday and assured him all help from the central government for development works in the state.
 
The national per capital banks to population ratio is 13000 while for UP it is about 16000.  
 
The finance ministry has set a target of opening another 2,700 bank branches in UP by March 2014.

"While 300 new branches have been opened, 450 would be opened in June, followed by 600 in September, 750 in December and 900 in March 2014,” said a state government official.

All the existing and new branches would be equipped with an ATM outlet by the end of next fiscal year. UP has a network of over 13,000 branches of different banks.
Chidambaram called upon banks to reach out to the un-served regions more aggressively for financial inclusion.

He noted if the banks could achieve the target of opening a total of 3,000 bank branches in UP by March 2014, then they could also open 12,000 branches in other places of the country.

Nearly 80 per cent of the branches will open up in the rural areas. (KNN)