Under the Service Area Approach, each rural and semi-urban branch was normally allotted about how many villages?

The correct answer is B, 1969. The Reserve Bank introduced the Lead Bank Scheme in December 1969, a few months after the nationalisation of fourteen major commercial banks in July of the same year, so the year is easy to anchor to the nationalisation year. The scheme gave one bank the responsibility of coordinating banking development in each district of the country, outside the metropolitan areas. Option A is wrong because 1965 is before the National Credit Council itself existed; the council was set up in 1968. Option C is wrong because 1975 is the year the regional rural banks were set up, under the Regional Rural Banks Ordinance. Option D is wrong because 1980 is the year of the second round of bank nationalisation, when six more banks were taken over. Papers frequently combine these four years in one question, so keep each one tied to its own event.

The correct answer is A, the Gadgil Study Group. The Study Group of the National Credit Council on the organisational framework for the implementation of social objectives, headed by Professor D. R. Gadgil, reported in 1969 that large parts of the country had no banking facility at all and recommended that credit be planned area by area, with a district as the unit. Option B is wrong because the Narasimham Committee reports of 1991 and 1998 dealt with banking sector reform, capital adequacy and prudential norms. Option C is wrong because the Tandon Committee of 1974 laid down norms for working capital finance and inventory. Option D is wrong because the Chakravarty Committee of 1985 reviewed the working of the monetary system. In this chapter two names must be kept apart: Gadgil for the area approach and Nariman for the allotment of districts to banks.

The correct answer is A, F. K. F. Nariman. After the Gadgil Study Group recommended the area approach, the Reserve Bank appointed a Committee of Bankers under F. K. F. Nariman, which agreed with the area approach and added the mechanism that gave the scheme its name: each district should be allotted to one bank, which would act as the leader and coordinate the work of all banks and development agencies there. The Reserve Bank accepted both reports and launched the scheme in December 1969. Option B is wrong because the R. V. Gupta Committee of 1998 dealt with agricultural credit delivery and simplifying crop loan procedures. Option C is wrong because the A. Ghosh Committee looked at frauds and malpractices in banks. Option D is wrong because M. Narasimham headed the banking sector reform committees of the 1990s. Gadgil and Nariman are the standard pair asked for this scheme.

The correct answer is A, the District Collector or District Magistrate. The District Consultative Committee is the working coordination forum of the district, bringing together all the banks operating there, the district administration and the development agencies, and it is chaired by the District Collector so that the administration and the banks sit together under one authority. Option B is wrong but is the usual trap: the Lead District Manager is the convenor of the committee, who calls the meeting, circulates the agenda and keeps the records, not its chairperson. Option C is wrong because the Reserve Bank's Regional Director attends state level meetings and oversees the scheme but does not chair the district forum. Option D is wrong because the convenor bank's head chairs the State Level Bankers' Committee. Remember the pattern: Collector chairs both district forums, the Lead District Manager convenes the District Consultative Committee and chairs the block committee.

The correct answer is A, the Lead District Manager. The Block Level Bankers' Committee is the lowest forum of the Lead Bank Scheme and exists so that the branches of a block, the block administration and the field level development agencies can settle practical questions of credit flow together. It is chaired by the Lead District Manager, the lead bank's officer for the district, and it is where the block credit plan is put together from the branch level plans. Option B is wrong because the Block Development Officer and other block officials attend as members but do not chair it. Option C is wrong because no branch manager chairs the forum; branch managers of all banks in the block are its members. Option D is wrong because the District Collector chairs the District Consultative Committee and the District Level Review Committee, which are at the district level and not at the block level.