Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, who was on a weekend visit to his parliamentary constituency of Sivagangai in Tamil Nadu, has revealed that the government has plans to open at least 7000 new bank branches every year across the country.
He was speaking to media after inaugurating the State Bank of India”s new branch at the Sivagangai Collectorate. Chidambaram said that this means that at least 20 branches would be opened across the country per day.
He said that he expected that by the end of March 2014, all banks in the country would have an ATM facility.
The Finance Minister also informed that Rs. 5, 75,000 crores would be disbursed to farmers as crop loans during fiscal 2013-14.
ANI