metropolitan offices. Banks had to 'earn' these entitlements by opening a stated ratio of rural offices. Between 1973 and 1977 this policy was slightly relaxed for metropolitan and urban centres with high deposit potential. The norm of population per office for these centres was lowered from 1,000 to 5,000. Also, banks with more than 60 per cent of their offices in rural and semi- urban areas were permitted to open 1 office in a metropolitan or urban centre for every 2 new rural/semi-urban offices. Banks with a lower proportion of rural offices were allowed one metropolitan/ urban offices centres for every 3 offices opened in the other centres. In 1977, the formula was changed to 1:4 (metropolitan/ urban rural/semi-urban) uniformly. The formula approach was given up in the following years, with the emphasis shifting to the extension of banking to 'deficit districts' (ie, where the population per bank office was higher than the national average). The allotment of licences for branches in urban and metropolitan centres has been severely restricted and done purely at the discretion of the Reserve Bank.
