most pronounced in all states ( except tripura ) of ner ( ranged between 61. 2 per cent and 95. 9 per cent ). financial sector development indicators number of bank branches • the number of branches of scheduled commercial banks ( including rrbs ) in ner increased from 1952 in march 2005 to 2752 in march 2013 ( chart 1 ). bis central bankers ’ speeches • rural segment accounted for the largest share in total branches in the ner. however, the number of branches increased rapidly in semi - urban and urban segments since the launch of financial inclusion plans in the country ( chart 2 ). • across ne states, the ratio of number of bank branches ( scbs ) per one lakh adult population as on march 31, 2013, ranged between 5. 77 in manipur and 24. 92 in sikkim, with a regional average of 10. 21, distinctly lower than the national average of 14. 25. • the population ( adult ) per branch4 for ner remained at 9795 far above the national average 7016 as on march 31, 2013. the ratio varied greatly across ne states, between 4014 in sikkim and 17323 in manipur. • the ratio of number of bank branches per one lakh adult population as on march 31, 2013 across rural and urban segments of ner remained at 6. 16 and 10. 45 respectively. it is revealed that the bank branch penetration in rural segment of ner is significantly lower as compared with urban segment despite around 80 per cent of its total population living in rural areas. lower the ratio, higher the outreach and vice - versa. bis central bankers ’ speeches • the population ( adult ) per branch for ner across rural and urban segments remained at 16242 and 9573 respectively, while the same for all india stood at 13141 and 12641 respectively. • interestingly, the population ( adult ) per branch in urban segment of ner is better than all - india average. progress in bank credit • ner accounted for a meagre share in all india credit which almost remained stagnant at less than 1 per cent during the period between march 2005 and march 2013 ( table 1 ). • across segments, the credit disbursement is significantly more in urban and semi - urban segments as compared with rural segment ( chart 3 ). the average of rural credit in total credit of ner remained at 24. 5 per cent while the same for urban and semi - urban

eight north eastern states cover an area of around 2. 62 lakh sq. km. constituting 7. 9 per cent of the country ’ s total geographical area, but contains only sikkim joined the indian union through a referendum in 1975 and was recognised as part of northeast india in the 1990s. recently, pmo has directed the project monitoring group to fast track development projects in ner. the central government already identified 21 key projects worth over rs. 1 lakh crore for ensuring faster clearances to them. of 21 projects, nine projects are from arunachal pradesh, seven from assam, three from tripura and one each from meghalaya and manipur ( source : special group set - up to fast track development in northeast india, dna, sept. 1, 2014 ). further, the cabinet approved over rs. 5, 300 crore project to boost telecom infrastructure and connectivity in the ner ( source : deccan herald, sept. 10, 2014 ). the group submitted its report in 2010. bis central bankers ’ speeches 45 million people or about 3. 8 per cent of the total population of the country ( source : population census, 2011 ). • the forest cover of the ner accounted for more than 50 per cent of its total geographical area. • more than 80 per cent of the population lives in the rural areas while the remaining 20 per cent in urban areas. • state - wise distribution of population and area of ner is : • the charts indicate that 68 per cent of total ne population lives in the state of assam and the same accounts for 30 per cent of total ne area. consequently, the population density varies greatly from 17 per sq. km in arunachal pradesh to 397 per sq. km in assam. • the per capita income ( pi ) at current prices of ne states also varies significantly. sikkim had the highest pi at rs. 1, 51, 395 in 2012 – 13 and manipur had the lowest pi at rs. 36, 937 during the same period ( source : central statistical organization, govt. of india ). section 2 progress in financial inclusion in ner extent of financial exclusion • as per nsso data ( 59th round survey results ), in ner, the proportion of farm households not accessing credit from formal sources in the total farm households is significantly high at 95. 9 per cent as against national average of 73 per cent. • further, the proportion of non - indebted farmer households was