Central schemes: Syndicate Bank to sway customers with Yakshagana

At a time when banks are making efforts to popularise financial inclusion and social security schemes, Syndicate Bank is all set to use a folk art form — Yakshagana — to take them to the masses.

The bank has come out with a 10-minute Yakshagana CD in Kannada and Hindi. In Yakshagana, a folk theatre form, artistes use songs, dance and dialogues to perform.

KT Rai, Field General Manager of Syndicate Bank, Manipal, told BusinessLine that the Yakshagana art form has mass appeal, especially in coastal and Malnad regions of Karnataka.

It was the idea of Arun Shrivastava, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank, to use this traditional art form to create awareness on programmes, such as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), Atal Pension Yojana, RuPay card, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), he said.

The CD depicts a village and revolves around a king called Bharatha, a moneylender and a farmer.

The moneylender lends to the poor but swindles them in the process. The king comes to the rescue of a poor farmer cheated by the moneylender.

In the process of rescuing the farmer, the story highlights the ease of transacting in banks (even with zero balance) and schemes, such as MUDRA and RuPay card.

The bank has not used any external troupe to perform Yakshagana on these schemes.

Rai said the performance as well as the production of the CD was done by the employees of the bank. These CDs will be sent to all the branches of the bank to highlight the programmes of the Centre, he said.

COMMENT NOW