The Hindu Business Line : Indian Bank ropes in 81 villages under financial inclusion project

Indian Bank is very aggressive about `reaching the unreached'. The bank has, in less than a year, brought 81 villages across the country within its fold by providing cent per cent banking services.

The initiative under the national pilot project on financial inclusion has, according to its Executive Director, Mr M.S. Sundara Rajan, created a habit of thrift among the economically weaker sections. "Instead of putting each penny in a container, these people who have hitherto lacked banking exposure are being introduced to banking services."

Through the implementation of the financial inclusion (FI) project, the bank has managed to make 55,500 persons to open an account with it and the deposit balance mobilised has totalled Rs 1.12 crore.

"These customers are not required to maintain a minimum balance in their account. Further, as a product under the FI project, we also offer them credit without security. We have extended SB overdraft to 7,633 account holders to the tune of Rs 52.52 lakh and issued 327 general credit cards. The balance standing to the credit of the 36700 `no frills account' has amounted to Rs 30.16 lakh," he said. He conceded to the difficulty in striking a balance between reaching out to a large number of members and maintaining efficiency. "The initiative however, is bound to bring substantial gain," he said.

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