Annotation This book examines the current level and pattern of access to finance for India's rural households, evaluates various approaches for delivering financial services, analyzes what lies behind the lack of adequate financial access, and identifies what it would take to improve access to finance.

Regional Rural Banks of India: Evolution, Performance and Management is a one-stop reference book on the genesis, growth, performance, and management of the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) in India. It is the first book of its kind, which comprehensively examines the development of modern banking in India since the ancient period to 2013 and birth, growth, and performance of Regional Rural Banks from 1975 to 2014. It looks at all the facets of operations like structure, financial management, deposits, advances, NPA management, ALM, and risk management practices prevalent in RRBs. It also describes role of IT in RRBs. The book will fill the long-felt absence of an authentic book on the functioning of RRBs of India. The book is expected to serve as a handbook for the new recruits and also as a reference book for the senior bankers and policy makers. The book, rich with volumes of latest data, provides various regulatory guidelines pertaining to day-to-dayoperations, management, and control of the rural banks. The book is targeted at the professionals, academicians, as well as students.

This paper traces the story of Indian financial sector over the period 1950–2015. In identifying the trends and turns of Indian financial sector, the paper adopts a three period classification viz., (a) the 1950s and 1960s, which exhibited some elements of instability associated with laissez faire but underdeveloped banking; (b) the 1970s and 1980s that experienced the process of financial development across the country under government auspices, accompanied by a degree of financial repression; and (c) the period since the 1990s till date, that has been characterized by gradual and calibrated financial deepening and liberalization. Focusing more the third period, the paper argues that as a consequence of successive reforms over the past 25 years, there has been significant progress in making interest and exchange rates largely market determined, though the exchange rate regime remains one of managed float, and some interest rates remain administered. Considerable competition has been introduced in the banking sector through new private sector banks, but public sector banks continue have a dominant share in the market. Contractual savings systems have been improved, but pension funds in India are still in their infancy. Similarly, despite the introduction of new private sector insurance companies coverage of insurance can expand much further, which would also provide greater depth to the financial markets. The extent of development along all the segments of the financial market has not been uniform. While the equity market is quite developed, activities in the private debt market are predominantly confined to private placement form and continue to be limited to the bluechip companies. Going forward, the future areas for development in the Indian financial sector would include further reduction of public ownership in banks and insurance companies, expansion of the contractual savings system through more rapid expansion of the insurance and pension systems, greater spread of mutual funds, and development of institutional investors. It is only then that both the equity and debt markets will display greater breadth as well as depth, along with greater domestic liquidity. At the same time, while reforming the financial sector, the Indian authorities had to constantly keep the issues of equity and efficiency in mind.

In India, Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) were started in 1975 to cater to the needs of the rural economy. Operating mainly at the district level, these RRBs pay particular attention to the credit requirements of small farmers, artisans, and agricultural workers. The capital of RRBs comes from contributions by India's central government, concerned state governments, and sponsor banks at a ratio of 50:15:35. This book contains 18 papers by scholars in the field of rural institutional finance. The papers examine almost every aspect of the functioning of India's RRBs, including geographical coverage, clientele outreach, business volume, and the development of the rural economy.

This book focuses on the legal challenges and opportunities for International Financial Institutions in the post-crisis world. It includes contributions from academics, practitioners and Bank staff. The contributions cover a broad array of issues, included governance reform and constitutional framework of IFIs, privileges and immunities, responsibility of international organizations, issues related to fragile and conflict-affected states, climate finance, and the recent financial crisis. The book is organized in three main areas, namely (i) Law of International Organizations: Issues Confronting IFIs; (ii) Legal Obligations and Institutions of Developing Countries: Rethinking Approaches of IFIs; and (iii) International Finance and the Challenges of Regulatory Governance.

This paper addresses two main questions: Are the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and non-banking institutions of West Bengal performing well in the remotest part of rural areas? If so, how pervasive are they in priority sector lending? To address these questions, a study was undertaken by selecting a sample of 125 respondents from different remotest rural areas of West Bengal and the responses collected for each of the five different priority sectors, viz., agriculture, micro and small-scale enterprises, education, housing and others (includes Self-Help Groups (SHGs), joint liability groups, other backward classes, women, etc.), were analyzed. The study involved a two-step empirical procedure: exploratory factor analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The findings of this study provide that apart from 'others' sector, none of the remaining priority sectors gives a positive indication about the effect of the performance of RRBs and non-banking institutions in priority sector lending. Due to the rising cost of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs), in the near future, operations of RRBs can only be improved if they are merged with sponsor banks or by going through the privatization route.

The Committee on Financial System (CFS), popularly known as Narasimham Committee, was set up in 1991 to make recommendations for bringing about the necessary reforms in the financial sector. Narasimham Committee appraised and acknowledged the success and progress of Indian banks since the major banks were nationalized on 19 July 1969. Unfortunately, the developments were witnessed only in the field of expansion and spread of bank branches, generation of huge employment and mobilization of savings rather than also in improvement in efficiency. Besides, corruption, fraud, misutilization in public money, outdated technology, and politicization in policy making were found to be major drawbacks in the real progress of the banks. As the banking sector plays an important and crucial role in the economy of a country for its stabilization and balanced growth, major reforms were urgently needed, after 22 years of nationalization, to revive Indian banks. This was not only in the field of profitability, but also in the overall efficiency, viz., better management of non-performing assets (NPAs), satisfying capital requirements, increased cost effectiveness and control, enhanced customer service, improved technology, establishing competitive interest rate, effective man-power planning, introduction of asset-liability management, better productivity, launching new products, and becoming more competent to face the upcoming challenges and competition from foreign as well as private sector banks in the era of globalization and liberalization. The objectives of the study are to examine the need and relevance of reforms in Indian banks, to assess the efficiency and profitability of Indian banks during reforms from different perspectives, to discuss various issues of NPA management in the light of reforms, to measure the performance of the banks of West Bengal during the reforms, to analyse the role of information technology and its relevancy in Indian banks in the era of reforms, and to impart necessary suggestions for the improvement of the efficiency and profitability of Indian banks.