Baikunthpur village in Narayanpur block in Mirzapur district has been brought under complete financial inclusion by Reserve Bank of India. The villagers here can now access banking facilities with the aid of business correspondents and by using their smart cards.

"The villagers, who would have smart cards, can make monetary transactions in their own village through the banking correspondent," said RBI deputy governor KC Chakrabarty.

The business correspondent would be available for aid 24 hours a day. He would be provided with a small mobile equipment which would operate on the thumb imprint of the villagers using smart cards. The villagers can deposit, withdraw and even take loans from the bank and also opt for overdraft facility.

"The RBI had decided to develop the identified villages as model villages during its platinum jubilee year 2009-10. Taking the process a step ahead, the RBI aims at attaching common man to banking system for overall growth," he said. "Around 50 per cent of people in the country do not have their bank accounts and about 90 per cent do not take loans from the banks. There are over six lakh villages in the country while only 30,000 villages have the facility of a bank branch," he informed.

"The financial inclusion programme is one of the high priority programmes of the Central government for inclusive growth," he said. He thanked technological advancements in aiding the success of the project.