government. and within this leadership role, the role of ldms cannot be overstated. as key pillars of the lbs framework, you hold the responsibility of extending banking services and credit to underserved regions, facilitating economic advancement, the results of which can be personally fulfilling. having served as the convenor of the slbc in telangana, i can attest to the deep satisfaction derived from the tangible impact created through lbs fora. 1 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches over the years, the roles and responsibilities of the ldms have evolved. but the underpinnings of these myriad objectives remain the same. today i would like to highlight certain expectations that we have from the functioning of the ldms. for easy recallability, i have attempted to give a different spin to the acronym – ldm – and identified three attributes viz., ( l ) iaison, ( d ) esigning and development, and ( m ) onitoring and motivating. i will now elaborate upon these. liaison the function of liaison is entrenched into the very inception of the lead bank scheme. india's post - independence journey toward inclusive development has been shaped by numerous initiatives aimed at reducing poverty and enhancing living standards. expanding access to essential services like education, healthcare, and sanitation, coupled with creating productive employment opportunities, has been central to these efforts. a key focus has been ensuring that the benefits of economic growth reach all segments of society, especially the marginalized groups. at its core, the lbs framework facilitates coordinated efforts among banks, financial institutions, and the government machinery, resulting in improved banking access and enhanced credit flow to vital sectors. the machinery of lbs starting at the borrower level goes right up to the state. and the duty of ldms in acting as a nodal body, ensures that mile - to - mile connectivity. thus, she may have to co - ordinate at the grassroot level to gather information of unbanked centres, identify the bottlenecks or gaps requiring credit flow, by actively working with the district development managers of nabard and rbi's lead district officers. towards this, it is necessary to have a self - driving system in place wherein the various meetings, right from the district consultative committees to the slbc are conducted effectively and in a timely manner. thus, a significant attribute of the role of ldms is effective liaisoning on the ground. design and development the aspect of design and development starts with the

credit plans. credit planning should adopt a bottom - up approach to convey the needs of the centres and then designing a plan best suited to address those. it is also important to understand that, while the targets should strive to be aspirational in ideas, they should be realistic enough to translate into execution and reflect the local credit needs. moreover, in this age of abundance of data and analytical models, a data - based empirical approach to designing of credit plan is essential. such techniques provide the ease with which targeted strategies can be developed for intervention. having said that, the primary step of data collection should be through field surveys and not be substituted by just an academic understanding. the field surveys also enable to identify those areas which are more in need of credit flow and have a better capability of servicing the loans. this should be the premise on which you formulate bankable schemes. statistics show that about half of the self - help groups ( shgs ) are yet to be linked to formal credit, and a large proportion of small and marginal farmers still lack access to 2 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches bank financing. another class of potential borrowers which has remained underserved are the msmes and within that, those led by women. therefore, when we adopt an empirical approach coupled with your on - ground experience for designing of a credit plan, the credit requirements of such segments can be effectively addressed through suitable potential linked credit plans as well as in block and district - level credit strategies. the idea is to base your plans on a holistic assessment of the district. the ultimate objective is to bring about measurable outcomes through systematic designing of credit plans. monitoring and motivating the'm'of the'ldm'attributes reflect monitoring and motivating. in fact, the monitoring part is entrenched in the stipulated duties of the ldms. being a liaison between the government departments and the blocks, the very important link of communicating the success of the ground - level implementation of the acps and the various programmes rests on an effective monitoring mechanism. this will also help in identifying the problems or bottlenecks in the flow of credit, which can then suitably be factored in while designing the credit plans for targeted interventions. you have an entire machinery of monitoring mechanisms starting from district level up to the state government, slbc or slcc. the efficacy of monitoring by each level depends upon the quality of review that you employ and then communicate through the right channel. in my