The Performance of Regional Rural Banks and Non-Banking Institutions in Priority Sector Lending : A Study on West Bengal

This paper addresses two main questions: Are the Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) and non-banking institutions of West Bengal performing well in the remotest part of rural areas? If so, how pervasive are they in priority sector lending? To address these questions, a study was undertaken by selecting a sample of 125 respondents from different remotest rural areas of West Bengal and the responses collected for each of the five different priority sectors, viz., agriculture, micro and small-scale enterprises, education, housing and others (includes Self-Help Groups (SHGs), joint liability groups, other backward classes, women, etc.), were analyzed. The study involved a two-step empirical procedure: exploratory factor analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The findings of this study provide that apart from ‘others' sector, none of the remaining priority sectors gives a positive indication about the effect of the performance of RRBs and non-banking institutions in priority sector lending. Due to the rising cost of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs), in the near future, operations of RRBs can only be improved if they are merged with sponsor banks or by going through the privatization route