Parliament Question: Opening of Bank Branches in Tamil Nadu

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3839 ANSWERED ON MONDAY, 16 MARCH 2026 / PHALGUNA 25, 1947 (SAKA) Opening of Bank Branches in Tamil Nadu 3839. SHRI DURAI VAIKO: Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government is aware that the residents of Alampattipudhur in Tiruchirappalli District and Andakulam in Pudukottai District in Tamil Nadu are facing serious difficulties due to the absence of nearby Government bank branches, if so, the details thereof; (b) whether the Government has received any representations from the public and elected representatives regarding the need to open bank branches in the said areas, if so, the details thereof; (c) whether any proposal is under consideration to open new branches of Public Sector Banks in Alampattipudhur and Andakulam, if so, the details thereof along with the timeline for implementation; and (d) if not, the reasons therefor and the steps proposed to be taken by the Government to ensure adequate banking facilities for the residents of these regions? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY) (a) to (d) To ensure accessibility of banking services in rural and remote areas, the endeavour of the Government is to provide a banking outlet (Bank branch / Business Correspondent / India Post Payments Bank) within 5 kilometres radius of all inhabited villages in the country. Availability of banking outlets is monitored by a Geographic Information System (GIS) based application, namely, Jan Dhan Darshak (JDD) app. As per JDD app, all the 738 inhabited villages in Pudukkottai district and 441 villages in Tiruchirappalli district are covered by a banking outlet within the radius of 5 kms. The banking infrastructure in the State of Tamil Nadu including the Pudukkottai & Tiruchirappalli districts is as under: - District Branch BC ATM IPPB Pudukkottai 242 832 293 335 Tiruchirappalli 510 1,554 872 482 Tamil Nadu 13,169 35,724 22,907 11,755 Source: JDD app Further, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has permitted Commercial Banks, Small Finance Banks, Payments Banks, Local Area Banks and Regional Rural Banks, to open bank branches anywhere in India without prior approval, provided 25% are in unbanked rural areas. Moreover, in pursuance of extant RBI guidelines, rolling out of banking outlets in uncovered areas is a continuous process looked after by the State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) / Union Territory Level Bankers Committee (UTLBC), in consultation with the concerned State/UT Government, member Banks and other stakeholders. Banks, inter-alia, consider proposals for opening banking outlets in the light of RBI’s instructions, their business plans and their commercial viability. To further assess the viability for opening a banking outlet, banks carry out survey as required. The data for such proposals is not maintained centrally. ******