Banks in Dakshina Kannada district have crossed business level of Rs 15,688 crore as on September 2007, informed Syndicate Bank Regional Office Deputy General Manager K U Shanbagh.
Speaking at the district consultative meeting for banking development held at Zilla Panchayat conference hall on Friday, he said this level of business is achieved by 370 bank branches in the district which includes deposits of Rs 9,781 crore and advances of Rs 5,907 crore. The Credit Deposit Ratio of the district is 60.38 as on September 2007. Increase in deposit by 20.95 per cent and advances by 15.26 per cent on a year-on-year basis has been recorded.
Syndicate Bank Lead District Manager Udaykumar Holla presented the agenda. The committee reviewed the performance of the banks under banking statistics, implementation of District Control Plan 2007-08 for the second quarter ending on September 2007 and government sponsored schemes.
Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Commissioner M Maheshwar Rao said, “though DK district has a wonderful banking network, the cost of accessing credit for farmers must be reduced. Moreover, the loan must be structured in such a way that those who avail the loans must benefit from it. The distribution of credit cards which has reached the mark of 57,252 must be increased still further. The district must come up with further innovative ideas for financial progress of the common man, he advised.
NABARD DDM K P  Udupa was present.

SARVA BANKING ABHIYAN
Dakshina Kannada district was declared as Fully Financially Included under Sarva Banking Abhiyan. A certificate to this effect was handed over by Deputy Commissioner M Maheshwar Rao to RBI Representative P D Ravikumar during the meeting. 
With the assistance of three major NGOs, the banks in the district have completed opening of No Frill SB Accounts of the families and the district is declared as fully financially included. It is requested that if any of the families are left out for opening SB account, they may approach the nearest bank branch or society and open ordinary SB accounts. Under this programme, banks have opened 89,252 No Frill Accounts and provided General Purpose Credit Cards to 3,546 families amounting to Rs 599.78 lakh, Syndicate Bank Deputy General Manager K U Shanbagh informed.
As per the direction of RBI, all households in the district are to be brought under banking fold by opening atleast one SB account per family with no balance or minimum balance.
The bank branch network in the district is so good that one bank branch or branch of co-operative society exists per population of 3,100. The district has 370 bank branches of nationalised and private banks and 115 PACS.
The financial inclusion concept is not new to the people of DK since major banks of the district have started door-to-door collection of small amounts from the people through the Pigmy scheme. For reaching out further, the DCC meeting held on June 14, 2007 decided to take up the total financial inclusion programme.
The works pertaining to survey of families was entrusted to three NGOs, namely, Navodaya Grama Vikas Charitable Trust for Mangalore block, SKDRDP for Bantwal, Puttur and Sullia blocks and Nagarika Seva Trust for Belthangady taluk. All banks have co-operated in implementing the programme in the district, Mr Shanbagh added.