The All India Bank Officers’ Confederation (AIBOC) has remembered positively the decision more than half a century ago to nationalise banks in India.
Although recent governments have been inclined towards privatisation, AIBOC is resisting this.
Prior to nationalisation, AIBOC said that there was a nexus between banks and industrialists, with a lack of credit offered to farmers and banks regularly failing.
The credit-deposit ratio was low, branches were concentrated in urban and metro centres and the poor could not access banks, it added.
Bank nationalisation, which happened in phases, had the aim of extending banking facilities on a much larger scale than before, particularly in the previously neglected rural and semi-urban regions. This was also done to prevent a small number of business entities from controlling the country’s banking assets via banks.
Nationalisation of banks has been effective in diverting credit to the agricultural sector, micro-, small-, and medium-sized businesses, and industry, AIBOC stated.
Going forward, AIBOC urges policymakers, regulators and other interested parties to recognise the invaluable contributions of public sector banks and their employees.
AIBOC has planned a week-long series of nationwide campaigns and initiatives to promote awareness and garner support, including poster displays at all branches and offices of Public Sector Banks, badge wearing by AIBOC members on July 19, using social media campaigns to amplify its message, blood donation camps, health screening camps, tree planting, school and college debates and similar initiatives for the betterment of society.
