WINDS OF CHANGE

New strategies of deposit mobilisation will have to be evolved without delay and these will have to be qualitatively different for rural and semi-urban areas as against urban and metropolitan cities. The strategies will also have to be varied to suit the habits, aptitudes, needs and social preferences of people in different parts of the country. Traditionally, banks have built up their image to suit the urban, literate and well-to-do client, and their operating methods and procedures are tailored mostly to fit his needs. This image must change quickly. We will have to admit that the change in our approach has not been adequate. `Customer service' and its re-orientation has to be understood in this context. Improvement of customer service does not mean imitation of techniques which are current in the Western coun­tries. Proper research and survey in different parts of the country will have to be conducted for objective assessments as to why the vast majority of our people do not go to the banks and what new range of services and techniques should be introduced to encourage the banking habit in different income-groups, among people of different aptitudes and with different social motivations. Our primary aim will have to be to reach the areas which have so far remained unbanked or underbanked. You will agree that the drive for deposit mobilisation and opening of new accounts in the rural areas can naturally not go on for the whole year. Con­certed and concentrated efforts will, therefore, be necessary to approach the cultivators during the time of the harvesting of the crops when ready cash will be available in their hands. Secondly, our propaganda and advertising for deposit mobilisa­tion in the rural areas will have to be considerably different from those in the urban areas. This would call for a great deal of imagination and understanding of the psychology and attitudes of the farmer. Thirdly, the orientation and approach of the deve­lopment or extension staff of the banks who work in the rural areas, will have to be radically different from those who are assigned this work in the urban and metropolitan areas. To what extent this requirement is being fulfilled by the present staff will call for a detailed review and remedial steps will have to be taken to give adequate training and orientation to the staff of banks working in the rural areas. Fourthly, it will be necessary to involve the local revenue and developmental agencies of the State Govern­ments in this gigantic effort for concerted campaign to open new accounts and to increase the deposits in the nationalised banks. At present, the revenue and Zilla Parishad authorities in the States are doing commendable work for mobilisation of small savings and sale of debentures for the cooperative banks. Since the nationalised banks would now be the instruments of change all over the rural areas in the country, we must make a conscious effort to involve the State and Local Government agencies in this campaign. We must have an innovative approach and should have the courage to experiment with new ideas and methods. Let there be more pooling of ideas and experiences. I would urge upon you to suggest how we can achieve an early break­through in deposit mobilisation.