The Panchayat Banks model of Jharkhand has provided rural citizens with improved access to a range of government schemes as well as financial services, allowing citizens to carry out basic financial transactions and also access benefits of government schemes such as pensions and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) payments. The initiative has also led to the creation of local entrepreneurs amongst community members and provided a source of livelihood to bank operators. It has reduced systemic leakages and increased transparency as well, as the new system, coupled with the Aadhaar-based direct transfer system, credits money directly into the account of MGNREGA workers who can withdraw the money through biometric authentication.

This case study is a part of Good Practices Resource Book 2015 and can be found on page 109.