PSB, financial institutions to make big push for Swachh Bharat

All public sector banks and public sector financial institutions have been asked to ramp up lending in the rural sanitation sector. 

According to a statement from Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation, the credit institutions have committed to strive for trebling the lending to households, SHGs, MSMEs and SMEs in the rural sanitation sector.

All public sector banks and financial institution branches also committed to provide access to clean toilets for customers across all branches in the country as their contribution to the Swachh Bharat Mission. 

Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and Department of Financial Services will jointly institute Swachh Bank/ Financial Institution awards to recognize exemplary contribution in this initiative through a competitive process, the statement issued yesterday said.

In another development, the institutions also agreed to dedicate a large part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds to the Swachh Bharat Mission in FY 2018-19. 

This is likely to infuse significant capital into sanitation initiatives across the country, the Ministry added.