Rural Bank Branches and Financial Reform

This note traces the bank branch licensing policy in India in the post-independence period, evaluates its performance and relates it to the present restructuring of the banking industry under financial reform. Within this context, the focus of the article is the future course of rural public sector banks. It offers the Indonesian transformation of Bank Rakyat Indonesia as a model relevant for the rural branches of public sector banks in India. It argues for their transformation as an alternative to closure or gradual substitution by private sector banks.