Marketing of Financial Services in Rural Areas

Banking in India now looks very different due to the rise of private banking organisations. Almost every major city and town in the country now has a private bank serving its citizens. However, as a result of urban market saturation, these banks’ growth rates are declining. Even though there is a sizable untapped population potential in cities, private financial institutions have begun to expand into rural markets in an effort to maintain a healthy growth rate. Traditional Indian economies have long relied on informal financial services, and most Indians have easy access to semi-formal and formal services through banks and agricultural cooperatives. Such services are provided by a vast network of financial institutions, including commercial banks, cooperative banks, regional rural banks, and others. Mutual funds, insurance firms, provident funds, and non-bank financing companies (NBFCs) round out the list of financial organisations. Financial services are provided by approximately 60,000 branches of 27 public sector commercial banks, 196 regional rural banks (RRBs), and 4,700 branches of 55 smaller private banks in India. There is an increasing presence of foreign banks as well, although their 200 branches mainly serve the major cities.