1. Lead Bank Scheme is administered by the Reserve Bank of India since 1969. The assignment of lead bank responsibility to designated banks in every district is done by Reserve Bank of India following a detailed procedure formulated for this purpose. As on June 30, 2014, 25 public sector banks and one private sector bank have been assigned lead bank responsibility in 671 districts of the country.


2. State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC)/Union Territory Level Bankers' Committee (UTLBC) as an apex level forum at State/Union Territory (UT) level coordinates the activities of the financial institutions and Government departments in the State/Union Territory under the Lead Bank Scheme. SLBC Convenorship is assigned to banks for this purpose. As on June 30, 2014, the SLBC/UTLBC convenorship of 29 States and 7 Union Territories has been assigned to 16 public sector banks and one private sector bank. List of State wise SLBC convenor banks and district wise lead banks is given in Annex I.

The Lead Bank Scheme (LBS) was applicable to all districts in the country except districts in metropolitan areas. Metropolitan areas were kept out of the Lead Bank Scheme as the reach of banking network in metropolitan areas was quite high in comparison to rural and semi-urban areas in the country. In view of the wide spread challenge of financial exclusion in metropolitan areas, especially among the disadvantaged and low-income groups and to facilitate doorstep banking to the excluded segment of the urban poor and to provide an institutional mechanism for co-ordination between the government and banks, it was decided to bring all districts in metropolitan areas under the LBS. Accordingly, the 16 districts in metropolitan areas of Chennai (1), Delhi (11), Hyderabad (1), Kolkata(1) Mumbai (2), were assigned lead bank responsibility and thus brought under the lead bank scheme during 2013-14. Thus, at present, the entire country is now under the fold of the Lead Bank Scheme.