Regional rural banks are helping India's growth story

The journey of regional rural banks (RRBs), which started with five of them on October 2, 1975, has been phenomenal.

- SHIV BAJRANG SINGH

These banks are jointly owned by the Centre, state governments and sponsor banks in the proportion 50:15:35. The sponsors are state-run, private and cooperative banks; managerial support is provided to RRBs by deputing the chairman and other senior functionaries. These banks have a presence in all states of the country, except Goa, Sikkim and a couple of Union territories.

The number of RRBs increased to 196 in the expansion phase, followed by a multi-phased consolidation spread of two decades. With the concept of "One State, One RRB" becoming a reality from May 1 this year, the number of RRBs will come down to 28. They will have a branch network of more than 22,000, which is second only to State Bank of India. But frequent consolidation exercises while imparting agility to these organisations have also created assimilative issues.

The Mitra Committee, set up in 2012, brought major changes from the human resources (HR) and organisational perspective. It also provided much-needed objectivity and transparency.