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List of RRB (Regional Rural Banks) In India

Regional Rural Banks in India Were Established In 1975 With The Recommendations of “The Narshimham Committee” Under RRB ACT 1976. The Major Challenges to Regional Rural Banks ( RRBs) Is to Provide Basic Banking Services to Rural and Sub Urban areas of Various States of India, But RRBs In India Can Expand Their Operations In Urban Areas Too.

Genesis of Regional Rural Banks

Regional Rural Banks came into existence on Gandhi Jayanti in 1975 with the formation of a Prathama Grameen Bank. The rural banks had the legislative backing of the Regional Rural Banks Act 1976 . This act allowed the government to set up banks from time to time wherever it considered necessary.

The RRBs were owned by three entities with their respective shares as follows:

  • Central Government → 50%
  • State government → 15%
  • Sponsor bank → 35%

Regional Rural Banks were conceived as low cost institutions having a rural ethos, local feel and pro poor focus. Every bank was to be sponsored by a “Public Sector Bank”, however, they were planned as the self sustaining credit institution which were able to refinance their internal resources in themselves and were excepted from the statutory pre-emptions.

Problems with Regional Rural Banks

But the original assumptions were belied as within a very short time, most banks were making losses. The RRB concept was based upon the policy that they would lend only to the weaker sections of rural society, charging lower interest rates, opening branches in remote and rural areas and keep a low cost profile. But the commercial motivation was absent.

Initially the banks expanded and by the end of year 1985 RRBS had opened 12606 branches. During this period their credit deposit Ratio (C.D.R) expanded very fast. In 1976 it was 165% and gradually declined to 104 % in December 1986. The Credit Deposit Ratio continuously declined thereafter.

Later, the questions started being raised about the viability of these banks. The Khusrau Committee of 1989, noted that the weaknesses of RRBs are endemic to the system and non-viability is built into it, and the only option was to merge the RRBs with the sponsor banks. The objective of serving the weaker sections effectively could be achieved only by self-sustaining credit institutions. RRBs were finding themselves unable to sustain because of the mounting losses due to imprudent commercial policy. Thus, Khusrau Committee (aka Agricultural Credit Review Committee) said that the RRBs have no justifiable cause for continuance and recommended their mergers with sponsor banks.

But by that time, the branch network had expanded so large that it would be political unwise for the government to merge the RRBs with sponsor Banks.

Recommendations of Narsimham Committee on RRBs

The Narsimham Committee in 1990s also reiterated that the RRBs should be merged with the sponsor banks. By 1993, 172 of the 196 RRBs were recorded unprofitable. The paid up capital which was ` 25 Lakh at that time was not able to absorb the loan losses of most of the RRBs. The loan recovery was around 40%. The First Narasimham Committee recommended that the RRBs should also be permitted to engage in all types of banking business and should not be forced to restrict their operations to the target groups. The Narasimham committee also recommended that there should be mergers of the RRBs with their sponsor bank, BUT the “sponsor banks might decide whether to retain the identities of sponsored RRBs or to merge them with rural subsidiaries of commercial banks to be set up on the recommendation of the committee”. The first recommendation of letting the RRBs do all businesses was accepted by the government.

Some measures were taken by the Reserve Bank of India also. It allowed the RRBs to relocate their branches if they were making losses at one location for more than 3 years. They were also allowed to finance the non-target groups to the extent not exceeding 40 percent of their incremental lending. This limit was subsequently enhanced to 60 percent in 1994. As a result, the RRBs diversified into a range of non-priority sector (NPS) advances, including jewel and deposit-linked loans, consumer loans and home loans

Some efforts were done by NABARD with funding support of the Swiss Development Corporation (SDC). It took a number of HR and Organizational Development in these banks.

Turnaround of RRBs

The above discussion makes it clear that most RRB were making loss and had deviated from the original idea that had created them. But there were some profit making RRBs also. Some reforms led the rise in the number of the profit making RRBs but most of them were having a low credit deposit ratio. This was coupled with the decreasing percentage of loans to small and marginal farmers out of the total loans disbursed by the RRBs. The RRBs NPA level was high. In the early 2000s there was no prescribed CRAR (capital to risk weighted asset ratio) for the RRBs. In 2005, based upon the recommendation of an internal working group the RRBs were asked to maintain a capital to risk weighted asset ratio at 5% and over the period of time they were expected to align themselves to Basel I standards. However, the major reform was to merge the RRBs with the sponsor banks.

There were 196 RRBs sponsored by 27 SCBs and one State Cooperative Bank were operating in the country with a network of 14,484 branches spread over 523 districts as on March 31, 2005. The government started the process of consolidation and amalgamation in 2005, bringing the number down to 82 in 2010.

As of March-end, 2011, the total number of RRBs stood at 82. This number fell to 64 in March 2013. As of March 2014, the number of RRBs has been reduced to 57. After the 2014 elections, the new NDA government has put hold on further amalgamation of the Regional Rural Banks. The focus of the new government is to improve their performance and exploring new avenues of investments in the same. Currently, there is a bill pending to amend the RRB Act which aims at increasing the pool of investors to tap capital for RRBs.

Regulation of RRBs

Regional Rural Banks are regulated by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). Please note that currently seven states viz. Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh Meghalaya and Puducherry, have state-level RRBs. Gujarat and Karnataka too have demanded formation of state level RRB. In case of West Bengal, the state Assembly took unanimous resolution in favour of State level RRB in the year 2004.

List of RRBs Functioning in the Country

Sr. No. Name of Regional Rural Bank & Website Link Sponsor Bank State
1 Allahabad UP Gramin Bank Allahabad Bank Uttar Pradesh
2 Andhra Pradesh Grameena
Vikas Bank
State Bank of India Andhra Pradesh
3 Andhra Pragathi Grameena Bank Syndicate Bank Andhra Pradesh
4 Arunachal Pradesh Rural Bank State Bank of India Arunachal Pradesh
5 Assam Gramin Vikash Bank United Bank of India Assam
6 Bangiya Gramin Vikash Bank United Bank of India West Bengal
7 Baroda Gujarat Gramin Bank Bank of Baroda Gujarat
8 Baroda Rajasthan Kshetriya Gramin Bank Bank of Baroda Rajasthan
9 Baroda UP Gramin
Bank
Bank of Baroda Uttar Pradesh
10 Bihar Gramin Bank UCO Bank Bihar
11 Central Madhya Pradesh
Gramin Bank
Central Bank of India Madhya Pradesh
12 Chaitanya Godavari Grameena Bank Andhra Bank Andhra Pradesh
13 Chhattisgarh Rajya Gramin Bank State Bank of India Chhattisgarh
14 Dena Gujarat Gramin Bank Dena Bank Gujarat
15 Ellaquai Dehati Bank State Bank of India Jammu & Kashmir
16 Gramin Bank of Aryavart Bank of India Uttar Pradesh
17 Himachal Pradesh Gramin Bank Punjab National Bank Himachal Pradesh
18 J&K Grameen Bank J&K Bank Ltd. Jammu & Kashmir
19 Jharkhand Gramin Bank Bank of India Jharkhand
20 Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank Syndicate Bank Karnataka
21 Kashi Gomti Samyut Gramin Bank Union Bank of India Uttar Pradesh
22 Kaveri Grameena Bank State Bank of India Karnataka
23 Kerala Gramin Bank Canara Bank Kerala
24 Langpi Dehangi Rural Bank State Bank of India Assam
25 Madhyanchal Gramin Bank State Bank of India Madhya Pradesh
26 Madhya Bihar Gramin Bank Punjab National Bank Bihar
27 Maharashtra Gramin Bank Bank of Maharashtra Maharashtra
28 Malwa Gramin Bank State Bank of India Punjab
29 Manipur Rural Bank United Bank of India Manipur
30 Meghalaya Rural Bank State Bank of India Meghalaya
31 Mizoram Rural Bank State Bank of India Mizoram
32 Nagaland Rural Bank State Bank of India Nagaland
33 Narmada Jhabua Gramin Bank Bank of India Madhya Pradesh
34 Odisha Gramya Bank Indian Overseas Bank Odisha
35 Pallavan Grama
Bank
Indian Bank Tamil Nadu
36 Pandyan Grama Bank Indian Overseas Bank Tamil Nadu
37 Paschim Banga Gramin Bank UCO Bank West Bengal
38 Pragathi Krishna Gramin
Bank
Canara Bank Karnataka
39 Prathama Bank Syndicate Bank Uttar Pradesh
40 Puduvai Bharthiar
Grama Bank
Indian Bank Puducherry
41 Punjab Gramin Bank Punjab National Bank Punjab
42 Purvanchal Bank State Bank of India Uttar Pradesh
43 Rajasthan Marudhara Gramin Bank State Bank of India Rajasthan
44 Saptagiri Grameena
Bank
Indian Bank Andhra Pradesh
45 Sarva Haryana Gramin Bank Punjab National Bank Haryana
46 Sarva UP Gramin Bank Punjab National Bank Uttar Pradesh
47 Saurashtra Gramin Bank State Bank of India Gujarat
48 Sutlej Gramin Bank Punjab and Sind Bank Punjab
49 Telangana Grameena Bank State Bank of India Telangana
50 Tripura
Gramin Bank
United Bank of India Tripura
51 Utkal
Grameen Bank
State Bank of India Odisha
52 Uttar Banga Kshetriya Gramin Bank Central Bank of India West Bengal
53 Uttar Bihar Gramin Bank Central Bank of India Bihar
54 Uttarakhand Gramin
Bank
State Bank of India Uttarakhand
55 Vananchal Gramin Bank State Bank of India Jharkhand
56 Vidharbha Konkan Gramin Bank Bank of India Maharashtra
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1 COMMENT

  1. Please check the TamilNadu grama bank, they merged that 2 banks into 1 bank. In TamilNadu, its called Tamilnadu Grama Bank and sponsored by an Indian bank

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