. therefore, priority should be given to the development of infrastructure, especially roads and also provision of post harvest management, cold storage and processing facilities. there is also the need to further harness the hydro - power capacity. better accessibility will also help develop the services sector, particularly tourism, which could become a significant source of employment and revenue. finally, the topography of the state and infrastructure bottlenecks together work as a deterrent for the development of physical banking and financial infrastructure. hence, greater reliance may need to be placed on technology to make banking more accessible to the majority of the population. this will require improvement in telecommunication facility. i thank you for inviting me to share my thoughts on financial inclusion in the state. tomorrow, i hope to see some of you at our outreach programme at tanhril village. with the combined effort of state administration, banks and the reserve bank we could together make a significant impact in financial inclusion. bis central bankers ’ speeches

noted that the downside risks to growth had increased appreciably. however, to allow time to gather and evaluate incoming information, possible policy action was deferred until the committee's next regularly scheduled meeting on september 18. a key issue at that meeting was the extent to which the market disturbances had affected the outlook for the housing sector. financial markets overall had improved somewhat, but tighter terms and standards in the mortgage market – particularly in the nonprime and jumbo segments - - appeared likely to intensify the correction in housing significantly, with adverse implications for construction activity and house prices. indeed, incoming housing data had continued to soften even before the advent of the stress in financial markets. a further sharp contraction in residential construction seemed likely to hold down overall economic growth in the fourth quarter and in early 2008. as they had at earlier meetings, the participants in the september meeting evaluated the potential effects of housing - market developments on other parts of the economy. they agreed that significant spillovers to household and business spending were not yet evident. for example, auto sales had picked up in august from the low levels of earlier in the summer ; and business investment did not appear to have been seriously affected by financial market developments, as highly rated firms continued to enjoy good access to credit. strong growth abroad was also viewed as supporting u. s. exports and domestic production. and as i have noted, the available evidence suggested that overall economic growth in the third quarter remained moderate. however, downside risks to both household and business spending had clearly increased over the period since the committee's previous meeting. notably, the weak housing market, somewhat downbeat consumer sentiment, and slower growth in private - sector employment increased the likelihood that consumption spending would slow in coming quarters. participants at the september meeting also reported somewhat greater caution in the outlooks of their business contacts. financial market conditions were expected to improve slowly at best ; and even if conditions began to normalize, credit would likely remain noticeably tighter for many borrowers than had been the case during the summer. furthermore, any weakening in the economy could itself have a negative effect on still - fragile credit markets, possibly leading credit conditions to tighten further. regarding the other half of its mandate, to promote price stability, the committee noted some improvement over the past year in measures of the trend component of inflation, such as core inflation. moreover, slower growth in aggregate demand would help to ease pressure on resources. but inflation risks remained, including still -