BANKING, TRADE AND COMMERCE

iNTRODUCTION

In the following pages is given a concise account of banking, trade and commerce in Bhir District. The group of credit institutions which perpetually feeds this activity comprise, in the main, the money-lenders, the banks, the co-operative societies, and a number of government and other agencies whose functional aspect forms the subject-matter of the present chapter.

As will be observed in this connection that the part which these institutions play in the present set-up of the district economy generally determines the economic conditions of the people. But the institutions themselves are many times an outcome of the conditions that prevail in the district and their progress depends upon many factors among which economic conditions is the major consideration. In the field of banking, for example, the expansion is stifled by lack of investment opportunities either in commercial or in industrial field. The solitary presence of the State Bank of Hyderabad (and the recently established branch of the Maharashtra Bank), is an instance in point. The predominance of the agricultural sector to which are geared the other economic activities in the district makes capital formation a remote possibility. The slender investments in the various small savings schemes of the Government substantiates this conclusion. As a matter of fact, agricultural land in Bhir district is fertile and capable of yielding a better produce. But the ignorance of the people and their indifference and to some extent their incapacity to employ the advanced technique of cultivation do not permit a full exploitation of the soil which results in many a farmer living a precarious standard. This, coupled with the tendency of the people of locking their savings, whatever they are, in the form of gold and silver ornaments does not encourage banking habits and arrests the growth of credit institutions. A pronounced imbalance in the ratio between the urbanites and ruralites further checks the mobility of credit throughout the district.

As with banking, so also with trade and commerce. The growth in this field can be characterised as slow and steady. The few market-yards at the urban centres and the weekly bazars are centres where agricultural commodities are chiefly traded. Lack of an efficient and widespread transport system reduces the mobility of goods and narrows the scope of trade.

With the implementation of the Five Year Plan's and the active efforts on the part of the Government to increase production through various devices such as distribution of tagai on a large scale, encouragement to small and cottage industries by extending liberal financial assistance to them, popularising savings schemes amongst the people, helping the backward classes and a number of other such activities, it is expected that the main obstacles to economic growth would be removed. The part which the Life Insurance Corporation has been playing in this context cannot be ignored for it has created an insurance consciousness among the people and has thus indirectly encouraged their saving habits.

This chapter deals with both the historical and structural aspects of financial institutions and credit agencies, and trade activities in the district. It is divided into two sections, the first section dealing with Banking and Finance, and the second with Trade and Commerce.