A meeting of the Regional Rural Bank (RRB) operating in 5 states was held in Udaipur, Rajasthan, on 22 August 2024. The meeting, which reviewed the performance of these regional rural banks, was chaired by the Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and attended by other senior officials.

Performance of RRB of which States were reviewed?

The Udaipur meeting reviewed the performance of nine regional rural banks operating in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra.

Who attended the meeting?

Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the meeting, which was attended by M. Nagaraju, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Union Ministry of Finance. The meeting was also attended by the Chairpersons of these nine Regional Rural Banks, the Chief Executive Officers of the sponsoring banks of these Regional Rural Banks, representatives of the Reserve Bank of India, Small Industrial Development Bank of India( SIDBI), National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD), and the senior officers of these five states.

Agenda of the Meeting

The meeting discussed these bank’s financial performance, progress on upgrading digital technology services, fostering business growth in MSME clusters, and deepening financial inclusion in rural areas.

Nirmala Sitharaman urged these banks to push MUDRA schemes in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh and other aspirational districts of these states. She also directed RRBs to become more customer-friendly and improve performance.

About Regional Rural Bank

Regional Rural Banks (RRB) were established in India in 1975, following the recommendation of the Working Group on Rural Banks, headed by M . Narasimham, to provide banking facilities and cheap credit to people in rural areas.

The Reserve Bank of India regulates the RRB.

The first five RRBs were set up on 2 October 1975..
The first RRB was Prathama Bank, established in Moradabad (U.P.) and sponsored by Syndicate Bank.
The Regional Rural Bank Act was enacted in 1976 and was further amended in 2015.
The Regional Rural Banks are owned by the central government, the state government and the sponsoring banks.
There are 43 Regional Rural Banks in the country, sponsored by 12 commercial banks operating in 26 states and 3 Union Territories.
There is no Regional Rural Bank in Sikkim and Goa.
Jammu and Kashmir Bank is the only private-sector bank that has sponsored an RRB.
Amongst the 12 public sector banks, only Punjab and Sindh Bank have never sponsored any RRB.