The Service Area Approach was implemented under the purview of
Integrated Rural Development Programme
Lead Bank Scheme
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
National Skill Development Mission
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This question was previously asked in
UPSC IAS – 2019
The Service Area Approach (SAA) was introduced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in April 1989. It was an integral part of the Lead Bank Scheme, aiming to assign specific villages to each bank branch operating in rural and semi-urban areas. The objective was to ensure planned and orderly development of banking facilities, particularly credit delivery, in rural areas by making each branch responsible for a designated ‘service area’ (a cluster of villages). This was intended to improve the quality of credit planning and flow to the rural sector and avoid overlapping service areas among different banks.