Banking on Social Justice

Social justice has been guaranteed by the Constitution of India. Money, as a social phenomenon, is being converted into deposits and then transformed into bank credits through the bank network. Banks serve as arteries in an economy contributing to sectorial growth, and thereby to the growth in real national income that leads to the promotion of human welfare, reflected through the quality of life of all citizens. Banks in India have also been assigned the task of alleviation of poverty.

Indian banks are thus expected to achieve growth with justice through branch banking. Bank branches have increased from 8262 in June 1969 to more than 1,30,000 in June 2015. As a result, the average population served by a bank branch has declined from 65,000 to 10,000. The aim of this book is to enable the common citizen to understand how far banks in India have achieved this objective over a period of five decades.

This book was originally the PHD thesis titled Geographical Expansion of Banks in India- Implications for Growth and Social Justice.