RURAL BANKING AND THEIR GROWTH ISSUES: AN ANALYTICAL STUDY WITH REFERENCE TO NASHIK REGION
DOI: https://doi.org/10.10399/JBSE.202645947
Keywords:
Rural banking, Financial inclusion, Nashik region, Credit-deposit ratio, Non-performing assets, Cooperative banks
Abstract:
Rural banking in India has been a central instrument of inclusive development since the social-control phase of 1966 and the subsequent nationalisation of major commercial banks in 1969 and 1980. Yet, despite seven decades of intervention through commercial banks, Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and the cooperative credit structure, the rural-banking sector continues to face persistent growth issues concerning credit absorption, asset quality, last-mile delivery and financial-literacy deficits. The Nashik region of Maharashtra, which combines a high-value commercial-crop economy with structurally disadvantaged tribal tehsils, offers an analytically representative setting within which these issues can be examined. This study evaluates the rural-banking landscape of the Nashik region for the period 2020 to 2024 in order to identify the binding growth issues and to propose evidence-based corrective measures.
