The financial inclusion drive of the government is progressing rapidly all across the country. The ministry of finance has identified 16 parameters to measure the extent and pace of growth in this regard, said Mr Basant Seth, Chairman and Managing Director of Syndicate Bank, and Chairman of the State-Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) - Karnataka. A meeting of SLBC recently discussed these parameters.

In Karnataka alone, it has been targetted to bring 3,395 villages above the population of 2000 under envelop of financial inclusion by March 2012.

He said that the target would be achieved by opening bank branches and also through alternate methods like business correspondent model.

Seth also said that banks should start accepting UIDAI details as adherence to know your customer (KYC) norms while opening bank accounts.

The meeting also reviewed performance of banking in Karnataka in terms of flow of credit to agriculture, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and other priority sectors as at September 2010.

Seth said that Karnataka banks have performed well in all these parameters.