Admitting that leakage of funds is taking place in MNREGA, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said the spread of banking facilities in the rural areas could plug leaks and reduce corruption. Addressing a Panchayat Raj Convention at Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata he said, If passage of funds to the recipients for schemes like MNREGA, old age pension, can be ensured through the banking system, then leakage will stop and corruption will decrease.

He, however, stressed that despite the corruption in distribution of MNREGA funds where jobless rural poor are
given work under the 100-day job guarantee scheme, the project has also ensured that minimum wages have risen in many backward places. Stating that despite 89,000 branches of banks in the country there are areas where bank branches can not be opened. He suggested mobile banking services can help in such areas.