of india, uco bank, allahabad bank, bank of india and bank of baroda – which had branches in the vicinity of the slum area. all six banks were allotted separate counters for opening of accounts as well as to campaign for their bank - specific products. free photo facility for account holders was provided and the cost was shared by all the participating banks. the initiatives such as this should be pursued and the full range of financial services provided to these areas. i understand that the local council extended support for obtaining identity documents required for opening of bank accounts. this experiment demonstrates what banks can do if only they are responsive, sensitive, proactive and result oriented. coming to sectoral flow of credit, while the share of agriculture in the state ’ s sdp is higher than at the all - india level, the share of agricultural credit in total credit is roughly the same for the state. this points to the need to look at bankable schemes in the agriculture sector. also, nabard has a very significant role to play in this region. as the micro and small enterprises account for 7. 2 per cent of total credit in the region, sidbi too, as a development finance institution, has to play a prominent role in accelerating and catalysing the flow of bank credit to the mse sector in the region. although not often acknowledged, effective financial intermediation has been one of the important factors behind india ’ s recent growth episode. efficient financial intermediation is a formidable challenge where poverty and disadvantage are high. you, as senior bank managers in the eastern region of the country, have a bigger challenge and greater opportunity. a bigger challenge because you have to be even more efficient than elsewhere, and a greater opportunity because by being responsive and sensitive, you can make " a bigger difference ". conclusion going forward, developments in the real economy, financial markets and global commodity prices point to a period of moderation in growth with declining inflation. what is heartening though is that the fundamentals of our economy continue to be strong. once calm and confidence are restored in the global markets, economic activity in india will recover sharply. but a period of painful adjustment is inevitable. it is our collective challenge – for you, the bankers, and for us at the rbi – to respond to this extraordinary situation effectively and return india to its path of growth and poverty reduction. thank you.

k c chakrabarty : mobile banking in india – regulations and rationale address by dr k c chakrabarty, deputy governor of the reserve bank of india, at the international banking summit on “ regulation of cross - border mobile payments and regional financial integration ”, mumbai, 29 march 2012. * * * assistance provided by shri k sivaraman and ms radha somakumar in preparation of this address is gratefully acknowledged. ms moono mupotola, manager, african development bank group, mr somak ghosh, group president, development & sustainable banking, yes bank, distinguished guests, participants, members of the print and electronic media, ladies and gentlemen. 1. i am delighted to be present here at the international banking summit on “ regulation of cross - border mobile payments and regional financial integration ” and share my thoughts on the subject of mobile phones as a powerful tool for enabling financial services. i thank yes bank and african development bank for extending the invitation to me. 2. technology has, for better or worse, undeniably brought about a change, hitherto unimagined, in our life styles. the transformation brought about by technology in the area of delivery of financial services has, thankfully, only been for the better. internet banking complemented by core banking solutions implemented by banks, mobile banking, card based electronic transactions at any bank atm and merchants locations ( both physical and through e - commerce sites ) have offered a variety of channels to bank customers to conduct their payment transactions. mobile as a medium 3. in this context, the question that often gets debated is : how and why is a mobile device the most appropriate delivery channel of financial services? besides the technology capability to transmit financial information in an efficient, secure and cost - effective manner enabled by development of mobile based applications for banking, the most significant fact about this idea is the ubiquity of the mobile phones. the number of mobile phones in the country are said to be nearing a billion phones. hence, banking and financial services, which have already come a long way from the branch level services to the customer ’ s home desktop and laptop, can now be reached to a much larger section of the society, including the financially excluded, through the medium of the mobile phones. besides the reach of mobile, there is another reason why mobiles are the most appropriate medium. what is after all a banking transaction? what purpose does the traditional cheque serve? in india, if you forget to