The basic aim of Lead Bank Scheme is that

The correct answer is C. The Lead Bank Scheme, launched in December 1969 on the recommendations of the Nariman Committee, allotted each district to one bank as its lead bank. That bank took responsibility for credit planning and development of the district. The idea was intensive development by a bank that adopts a district, not every bank spreading itself thin everywhere.

Why the others are wrong:

• A is wrong because branch expansion was a separate drive, governed by the branch licensing policy of 1971. The lead bank role is about coordination of credit, not opening offices in every district.
• B is wrong because the scheme was built on cooperation and allocation of districts. Competition among nationalised banks was never its aim.
• D describes a general banking goal. Deposit mobilisation is one task a lead bank coordinates, but it is not the scheme's basic aim.

Core concept: area-based credit planning to reduce regional imbalance in institutional credit. It links to the Mains theme of financial inclusion and rural credit. The scheme continues today, with Lead District Managers coordinating under RBI and NABARD guidance.

Trap: candidates pick D because mobilising deposits sounds like a bank's core job. The question asks for the scheme's basic aim, which is district-wise adoption and development.