Speaking at the State Level Bankers’ Meeting here on Friday, he said Karnataka has been in the forefront of financial inclusion and any mistake in selecting business correspondents would defeat the objective of the drive. The banks are appointing correspondents in villages with a population of more than 2,000.

Bhaskar said complaints have been received from the public alleging that banks were demanding collateral security for educational loans despite RBI’s direction not to insist for security. He called upon the banks to follow the direction.

SLBC chairman Basant Seth, who is also CMD of Syndicate Bank, called upon bankers to make efforts to provide banking facilities in villages with more than 2,000 houses by March 2012. There are about 3,307 such villages in the state.  Chief Secretary S V Ranganath launched the website of the SLBC - http://slbckarnataka.in