business correspondents ( bc ) to be 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 ) ; and other specific products designed by them to cater to the financially excluded segments. banks were advised to integrate board approved fips with their business plans and to include the criteria on financial inclusion as a parameter in the performance evaluation of their staff. the implementation of these plans is being closely monitored by the reserve bank. vii. measures specific to ucbs : ucbs have been advised to step up their financial inclusion efforts by utilizing appropriate technology. certain other measures such as enhancing maximum limits on unsecured loans and advances, revising credit limits permitted for individual housing loans, extension of area of operations for ucbs, permitting lending to shgs and jlgs and permitting the use of bcs have been undertaken to further the financial inclusion drive. untapped potential for the ucbs – financial inclusion the client profile of ucbs today predominantly consists of priority sector segments viz. small business establishments, ssi, retail traders, self - employed etc., who would not, normally, find it easy to access commercial banks. the priority sector loans of the sector are today at 46 % as against the prescribed target of 40 %. nearly 90 % of the loan accounts of the sector are less than rs five lakh in value. to this extent, ucbs are already into financial inclusion. however, there remains a huge hidden potential waiting to be tapped. given the large number of small urban co - operative banks, and with 271 districts not having any presence of ucbs, there exists a huge potential for ucbs to increase their spread and business and also participate in the national mission of financial inclusion. given their respective sizes, it may well appear to be a david vs. goliath contest as ucbs need to compete with larger commercial banks in vying for the unbanked pie. however, there exists a distinct first mover advantage which the ucbs have, in addition to their vast customer base. ucbs need to capitalise on this advantage, else their potential customers will be covered by the commercial and regional rural banks and ucbs will lose a good business opportunity. initially, it may appear that taking banking services to the sections constituting the “

be to devise innovative programmes of financial literacy targeted towards women. in this context, it would be useful to study successful experiments from ngos such as self - employed women ’ s association ( sewa ) which has started a financial counselling training service for poor self - employed women, including training for trainers, and identify how these one - off successes can be replicated on a larger scale in a cost effective way. financial inclusion will act as a source of empowerment and allow people to participate more effectively in the economic and social process. banking on the poor could turn out to be a rich banking proposition. financial inclusion is a win - win opportunity for the poor, for the banks and for the nation. urban co - operative banks have a duty to rise up to meet these aspirations, convert the perceived weakness into exciting opportunities and facilitate inclusive growth. i wish the cosmos bank the very best in their financial inclusion initiatives. thank you. references : 1. chakrabarty, k. c. ( 2011 ), “ financial inclusion – a road india needs to travel ”, article published in www. livemint. com on oct 22, 2011 2. rangarajan, c. ( 2008 ), report of the committee on financial inclusion 3. status of microfinance in india : 2010 – 11, nabard bis central bankers ’ speeches