Performance of Regional Rural Banks after Amalgamation:A Case Study of Odisha

Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) form an integral part of the Indian banking system. Though, like any other commercial banks, they were set up to provide banking services to the people, unlike other banks which were handicapped by urbanite culture, Regional Rural Banks were conceptualised as a bank „by the rural people, for the rural people and of the rural people . Service, not the profit, was the motto. But any financial organisation needs to be self-sustaining to flourish and to achieve its social goals. As a part of many reforms measures, to strengthen the RRBs, the Government of India initiated the process of amalgamation in 2005, among the RRBs operating in a state and sponsored by the same commercial bank. As a result of this, the number of RRBs which stood at 196 in March, 2005 reduced to 82 in March, 2010.