The pay scale and allowances of regional rural banks (RRBs) has been revised and brought to the same level as that of nationalized banks.

This step would bring an additional burden of Rs 791 crore on the exchequer in the form of arrears.

In the annual review meeting of RRB chairmen and general managers of sponsor banks, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced the wage revision and also asked these banks to bring down the NPA level to below 5% within this fiscal itself.

RRBs have been asked to speed up their activities with the aid of new technologies like business correspondents, mobile banking vans and tele-banking. The finance minister also emphasized on the implementation of core banking solutions (CBS) to RRBs.

The credit offtake of RRBs as on 31st March 2010 amounted to Rs 83,562 crore whereas the deposits amounted to Rs 1,42,814 crore.