Banks have to lend minimum of 40% to priority sector which includes all of the given sectors

Priority Sector Lending is an important role given by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to the banks for providing a specified portion of the bank lending to a few specific sectors like

• Agriculture and allied activities,
• Micro and small enterprises ,
• Poor people for housing ,
• Students for education , and
• Other low income groups and weaker sections .

This is essentially meant for all-round development of the economy as opposed to focusing only on the financial sector.