According to the data on aggregate deposits and gross bank credit of scheduled commercial banks as on the last friday of September 1996 collected through the BSR-7 quarterly returns, the top hundred centres arranged according to the size of deposits accounted for 58.8 per cent of the total deposits. Similarly, the top hundred centres arranged according to the size of bank credit constituted 71.5 per cent of the total bank credit. Nationalised banks as a group contribu

With a view to providing institutional mechanisms for promoting rural savings as well as for the provision of credit for viable economic activities in the local areas, it has been decided to allow the establishment of new local banks in the private sector. This is expected to bridge the gaps in credit availability and enhance the institutional credit framework in the rural and semi-urban areas. The following are the guidelines for establishment of the new local banks:

For well over two decades, after the nationalisation of 14 larger banks in 1969, no banks have been allowed to be set up in the private sector. Progressively, over this period, public sector banks have expanded their branch network considerably and catered to the socio-economic needs of large masses of the population, especially the weaker section and those in the rural areas. The public sector banks now have 91 per cent of the total bank branches and handle 85 per ce