nearly 384, 000. out of these, 115, 350 banking outlets were opened during the year – 2013 – 14. ii. nearly 5, 300 rural branches were opened during the last one year. out of these, nearly 4, 600 branches were opened in unbanked rural centres ( tier v and tier vi centres ). iii. nearly 33500 bc outlets were opened in urban locations during the year taking the total number of bc outlets in urban locations to 60730 as at the end of march 2014. iv. more than 60 million basic savings bank deposit accounts ( bsbdas ) were added during the last year taking the total number of bsbdas to 243 million. v. with the addition of 6. 2 million small farm sector credits during the year 2013 – 14, there are 40 million such accounts as on march 31, 2014. vi. with the addition of 3. 8 million small non - farm sector credits during the year 2013 – 14, there are 7. 4 million such accounts as on march 31, 2014. vii. nearly 328 million transactions were carried out in bc - ict accounts during the last year as compared to 250 million transactions during 2012 – 13. though, the number of bc - ict transactions has shown a considerable increase during the last year the average transaction per account still remains low. the focus of monitoring is now more on usage of these accounts through issue of more credit products through the channel. the reserve bank also issued guidelines to strengthen the bc model. implementation and monitoring of financial inclusion targets should focus on usage of bank accounts, and expand beyond transfer payouts. as the recent inter media survey shows, only half the bank accounts have been active over the previous three months. in order to increase transactions, there should be clear communication to customers about the mission and banks should be incentivised to provide appropriate products that increase usage. bis central bankers ’ speeches way forwardstructure with adoption of new branchless delivery channels by banks, there is a need for banks to revamp the structure for carrying out banking operations considering their competitive, comparative advantage and build strategy and a business case. each bank has to, based on its business strategy, develop a structure that can enhance its financial inclusion efforts. innovation • business models should be designed to be at least self - supporting in the initial phase and profit - making in the long run, with an unwavering focus on affordability for the poorer person transacting in the penny economy where there are large volume

##ent with their business strategy and comparative advantage to make it an integral part of their corporate plans. these plans broadly include self - set targets in respect of rural brick and mortar branches opened ; business correspondents ( bc ) employed ; coverage of unbanked villages with population above 2000 as also other unbanked villages with population below 2000 through branches / bcs / other modes ; no - frill accounts opened including through bc - ict ; kisan credit cards ( kcc ) and general credit cards ( gcc ) issued ; and other specific products designed by them to cater to the financially excluded bis central bankers ’ speeches segments. the implementation of these plans is being closely monitored by the reserve bank. the domestic scbs have been mandated in the monetary policy statement – april 2011 to open at least 25 per cent of their total number of branches to be opened during a year in unbanked rural ( tier 5 and tier 6 ) centres. further, banks have been advised in the monetary policy statement of may 2013 to front - load the opening of branches in unbanked rural centres over a 3 year cycle co - terminus with their fip ( 2013 – 16 ). credit will be given for branches opened in unbanked rural centres in excess of 25 percent in a year which will be carried forward to the subsequent year of the fip. this is expected to accelerate the progress in opening of bank branches in the rural areas. 2. relaxed know your customer ( kyc ) requirements – to facilitate easy access to bank accounts, know your customer ( kyc ) requirements have been simplified to such an extent that small accounts can be opened with self - certification in the presence of bank officials. further, rbi has allowed “ aadhaar ” the unique identification number allotted by uidai, goi to be used as one of the eligible document for meeting the kyc requirement for opening a bank account. recently in september 2013, we have allowed banks to provide e - kyc services based on aadhaar, thus paving the way for account opening of all the people. 3. allowing correspondent banking – in january 2006, the reserve bank permitted banks to utilise the services of intermediaries in providing banking services through the use of business facilitators and business correspondents. the bc model allows banks to do “ cash in – cash out ” transactions at a location much closer to the rural population, thus addressing the last mile problem. 4. combination of branch and bc structure to deliver financial inclusion