Banks are required to furnish information on, inter alia, revenue centre (hereafter centre) of the concerned banking outlet (branch, office, ATM, etc.) along with its population as per. Census 2011 in proforma I / II. A Centre is defined as the revenue unit (and not just the locality) classified and delineated by the respective State Government, i.e., a revenue village/ city/ town/ municipality/ municipal corporation, etc., as the case may be, in which the branch is situated. The proforma information submitted by banks are incorporated in the bank-branch statistics system (also known as Master Office File (MOF) System) maintained at the RBI. Based on the size of the population, a centre, where bank branch is located, is classified either into rural, semi-urban, urban, or metropolitan as under:

1. Rural: population less than 10,000

2. Semi-Urban: 10,000 and above and less than 1 lakh

3. Urban: 1 lakh and above and less than 10 lakh

4. Metropolitan: 10 lakh and above

For the purpose of correct identification of a centre, at the first stage, banks should refer the administrative map prepared and used by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India while conducting Census 2011. This map in tabular text form, in the form of static geographical maps of districts displaying boundaries of sub-districts and position of villages/ towns at map and population at various granularities of geographies are available on their website (www.censusindia.gov.in).

At the second stage, banks should ensure that there are no geographical re-organisations (Merger/ split) in respect of States, Districts, Sub-districts (Tehsil, development block, etc.) and the revenue centre (village, city, town, etc.) made by the respective authorities (Central/ State Government) in respect of location of their interest. In order to capture the correct geographical location and its population group classification, the geographical reorganisation taken place till date (after census 2011) needs to be considered while reporting locational details (i.e., centre) of banking outlets to the Reserve Bank.

Banks may submit Gazette Notifications or notification issued by competent authority for such geographical reorganisation through e-mail. In case of any doubt, appropriate state level authorities (revenue/ land development/ forest/ etc. departments) responsible for supplying administrative map to Census authorities and involved in geographical reorganisation activities in the respective State, or Census authorities in the State, may be consulted. As such, for missing villages in Census data, state/ district/ sub-district level census authorities may be consulted about the inclusion of this village population in the particular revenue centre in Census 2011. Accordingly, revenue centre name may be mentioned. If a particular revenue village is missing in administrative map of Census thereby its population was not included in the Census 2011, a certificate from Census authorities may be obtained stating the name of particular revenue centre and its available population at the time of conduct of Census 2011. Clarifications may also be obtained from the Block Development Officer, Tehsildar, Municipality or Municipal Corporation Office or Office of the District Collector in this regard and also in respect of re-organisation of geographical locations.

Special Cases for Computing of Correct Population for Classifying a Centre in to Appropriate Population Group from Census Database

A. Centre spanning across two or more districts/ sub-districts

Guideline: Actual district/ sub-district of the part centre, where bank branch is located, should be reported in respective fields of the proforma. However, population group classification will be based on combined population of all parts of the centre. Till classification based on Census 2001 (i.e. before September 1, 2016), one centre spanned over multiple districts used to be treated as different centres depending on part of the centre falling in particular district. But one centre spread over multiple sub-districts used to be treated as one centre only. With effect from September 1, 2016 (i.e. effective date of implementation of Census 2011), for population group classification purpose, one centre spread across two or more districts/ sub-districts will uniformly be treated as one centre only. As such, population group classification of such centres would be based on combined population of the centre, arrived at by adding each part population of the centre across district/ sub-district as available from Census 2011 data.

Example (Centres across two or more districts)

i) Hyderabad: Center Hyderabad is spanned over three districts, viz., Rangareddi, Hyderabad, and Medak in the state of the Telangana with part populations of 3136259, 3718651, and 138082 respectively. As such, all parts of Hyderabad (in all the three districts) will be classified as metropolitan with population of the centre as 6993262 (3136259+3718651+138082=6993262). However, position of branches are required to be reported in the respective actual districts based on their location. Before September 1, 2016, part of Hyderabad falling under Medak district used to be classified as semi-urban.

Example (Centres across two tehsils):

ii) Chirmiri: This centre in district Koriyaspans over tehsils Baikunthpur and Khadganva with respective part populations sizes of 16016 and 69307. The classification of centre Chirmiri will be semi-urban based on the combined population 85323 (16016+69307 = 85323). The branches in part of Chirmiri will be shown in their respective Tehsils (Baikunthpur and Khadganva) depending on their actual position. Before, September 1, 2016, the Tehsils for all branches in centre Chirmiri used to be reported as Khadganva tehsil as population of Khadganvais more than that of Baikunthpur.

B. Outgrowths (OG) in Census Data

Guideline: Outgrowth is a part of a bigger centre to be considered as bigger centre only, not a separate center.

Examples:

i) Jamalpore (OG) and Chovisi (OG) are the part of bigger centre Navsari in district Navsari in Gujarat. Therefore, the centre of the branches located at these OGs is Navsari.

ii) Khanpur (OG) and Lamin (OG) are the part of bigger centre Pathankot in district Pathankot in Punjab.

C. Cantonment Boards

Cantonment Boards (CBs) near to/ surrounded by big cities (List-1) will considered as a part of that big city. Therefore, branches falling under such CBs and big cities will be classified based on the combined population of the big city and the corresponding CB.The cantonments/ CBs those are treated as separate centres are given in List-2.

D. Delhi as a single centre

As per administrative map of Census 2011, there were two Municipal Corporations viz. Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC)¹ (subsequently trifurcated) & New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and one cantonment board viz., Delhi Cantonment Board, are considered as separate centres in Delhi. However, for reporting of data to the RBI, all these centres will continued to be classified as single Centre as hitherto. Accordingly, the centres North Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation, East Delhi Municipal Corporation, New Delhi Municipal Corporation and Delhi Cantonment Board will be treated as part of one bigger centre viz., “Delhi” and its classification based on combined population will be “Metropolitan”.

Banks should report correct centre name and population group classification of centres while seeking authorisation for opening of branches/offices in the respective centre from the Department of Banking Regulation (DBR)/ Department of Cooperative Banks’ Regulation (DCBR).

For information on banked centres, “Branch Locator” link available on http://dbie.rbi.org.in may be referred to. The link is also accessible from RBI’s main website (www.rbi.org.in) under the link (Statistics >> Database on Indian Economy).

In case banks need further clarification or information on methodology for identification of correct centres, they may refer the case to DSIM, CO at the following address.

The Director,
Reserve Bank of India,
Bank Branch Statistics Division,
Department of Statistics and Information Management, Central Office,
C-9, 6th Floor, Bandra-Kurla Complex,
Bandra (East) Mumbai - 400051.

Telephone: 022-26578100/8300 (Extn. 7360/ 7361/ 7362/ 7613)
Fax: 022-2657 0847
Email.

¹ Post Census 2011, Delhi Municipal Corporation has been trifurcated into North Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation and East Delhi Municipal Corporation