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This master circular consolidates guidelines on the Lead Bank Scheme up to March 31, 2022. It applies to banks, financial institutions, and government agencies involved in rural and priority sector lending. The circular outlines the structure of fora such as Block Level Bankers Committees, District Consultative Committees, and State Level Bankers Committees. It sets rules for credit planning, banking penetration, Credit Deposit ratios, Direct Benefit Transfer, and digital payments. Banks must follow standard operating procedures for data flow and coordination.
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RBI/2022-23/11 FIDD.CO.LBS.BC.No.02/02.01.001/2022-23 April 01, 2022
The Chairman/ Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer SLBC/ UTLBC Convenor Banks / Lead Banks
Madam/ Dear Sir,
Master Circular – Lead Bank Scheme
The Reserve Bank of India has issued a number of guidelines/instructions on Lead Bank Scheme from time to time. This Master Circular consolidates the relevant guidelines/ instructions issued by Reserve Bank of India on Lead Bank Scheme up to March 31, 2022 as listed in the Appendix I.
Yours faithfully,
(Sonali Sen Gupta) Chief General Manager-in-Charge
Encl.: As above
Structure
1 Introduction 2 Fora under Lead Bank Scheme
(i) The genesis of the Lead Bank Scheme (LBS) can be traced to the Study Group headed by Prof. D. R. Gadgil (Gadgil Study Group) on the Organizational Framework for the Implementation of the Social Objectives, which submitted its report in October 1969. The Study Group drew attention to the fact that commercial banks did not have adequate presence in rural areas and also lacked the required rural orientation. The Study Group, therefore, recommended the adoption of an 'Area Approach' to evolve plans and programmes for the development of an adequate banking and credit structure in the rural areas.
(ii) A Committee of Bankers on Branch Expansion Programme of Public Sector Banks appointed by the Reserve Bank of India under the Chairmanship of Shri F. K. F. Nariman (Nariman Committee) endorsed the idea of an ‘Area Approach’ in its report (November 1969), recommending that in order to enable the Public Sector Banks to discharge their social responsibilities, each bank should concentrate on certain districts where it should act as a 'Lead Bank'.
(iii) Pursuant to the above recommendations, the Lead Bank Scheme was introduced by the Reserve Bank of India in December 1969.The Scheme aims at coordinating the activities of banks and other developmental agencies through various fora in order to achieve the objective of enhancing the flow of bank finance to the priority sector and other sectors and to promote banks' role in the overall development of the rural sector. For coordinating the activities in the district, a particular bank is assigned ‘Lead Bank’ responsibility of the district. The Lead Bank is expected to assume a leadership role for coordinating the efforts of the credit institutions and the Government.
(iv) In view of the several changes that had taken place in the financial sector, the Lead Bank Scheme was last reviewed by the High Level Committee headed by Smt. Usha Thorat, former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India in 2009.
(v) The High Level Committee held wide ranging discussions with various stakeholders viz. State Governments, banks, development institutions, academicians, NGOs, MFIs etc. and noted that the Scheme has been useful in achieving its original objectives of improvement in branch expansion, deposit mobilisation and lending to the priority sector, especially in rural/semi urban areas. There was overwhelming consensus that the Scheme needs to continue. Based on the recommendations of the Committee, the guidelines were issued to SLBC Convenor banks and Lead Banks for implementation.
(vi) Envisaging greater role for private sector banks, Lead Banks were advised to ensure that private sector banks are more closely and actively involved in the implementation of the Lead Bank Scheme, by leveraging on Information Technology and bringing in their expertise in strategic planning. They were also advised to involve themselves in the preparation as well as implementation of the District Credit Plan(DCP).
(vii) Further, Reserve Bank of India constituted a “Committee of Executive Directors” of the Bank to study the efficacy of the Scheme and suggest measures for its improvement. Based on the Committee’s recommendations and feedback received from various stakeholders, certain ‘action points’ were issued to SLBC Convenors/Lead Banks and NABARD on April 6, 2018.
Block Level Bankers’ Committee (BLBC) is a forum for achieving coordination between credit institutions and field level development agencies at the block level. The forum prepares and reviews the implementation of the Block Credit Plan and also resolves operational problems in the implementation of the credit programmes of banks. The Lead District Manager (LDM) of the district is the Chairman of the Block Level Bankers’ Committee. All the banks operating in the block including the Small Finance Banks, Wholly Owned Subsidiaries (WOS) of Foreign Banks, RRBs, the District Central Co-operative Banks, Block Development Officer, technical officers in the block, such as extension officers for agriculture, industries and co-operatives are members of the Committee. BLBC meetings are held at quarterly intervals. To strengthen the BLBC forum which operates at the base level of the Lead Bank Scheme, it is necessary that all branch managers attend BLBC meetings and enrich the discussions with their valuable inputs. Controlling Heads of banks may also attend a few of the BLBC meetings selectively. Participation by the District Development Manager (DDM) of NABARD in BLBCs would ensure better and more meaningful discussions for the development of the Block. Therefore, NABARD has been advised that DDMs should attend all Block Level Bankers’ Committee meetings in their districts and actively participate in the credit planning exercise and review meetings at the block level. The Lead District Officer (LDO) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) selectively attends the BLBC meetings. The representatives of Panchayat Samitis are also invited to attend the meetings at half yearly intervals so as to share their knowledge and experience on rural development in the credit planning exercise. Payments Banks should also be invited to attend the meetings.
The District Consultative Committees were constituted in the early seventies as a common forum at the district level for bankers as well as Government agencies/departments to facilitate coordination in implementing various developmental activities under the Lead Bank Scheme. The District Collector is the Chairman of the DCC meetings. Reserve Bank of India, NABARD, all the commercial banks including Small Finance Banks, Wholly Owned Subsidiaries (WOS) of Foreign Banks, RRBs, Payments Banks, Co-operative banks including the District Central Cooperative Bank (DCCB), various State Government departments and allied agencies are the members of the DCC. The Lead District Officer (LDO) represents the Reserve Bank as a member of the DCC. The Lead District Manager (LDM) convenes the DCC meetings. The Director of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Institute (MSME-DI) in the district is an invitee in districts where MSME clusters are located to discuss issues concerning MSMEs.
