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State Bank of India on Friday announced the launch of ‘Bank on Bike' initiative for villages untouched by banking facilities so far.
Cheriyal in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh, about 60 km from Hyderabad, became the first village in the country to welcome SBI Bank on Bike initiative.
The Deputy Managing Director of SBI, Mr Shiv Kumar, flagged off this project which forms part of the financial inclusion plan of the Central Government to cover all villages with 2,000 and above population. The Andhra Pradesh Government has allotted 1,381 villages to SBI to be completed by March 12, 2012.
The bank has begun the process by establishing financial inclusion centres in al the 23 districts of the State simultaneously and thus far 40 villages across five districts have been covered.
The Bank on Bike concept is aimed at faster implementation of the scheme. SBI has made arrangements through its banking correspondent, Geosansar, to open outlets at the three places. A person on the bike will carry a laptop and data card to access specially designed SBI Internet site for the purpose. It is accessed through a biometric interface and thereby facilitates transactions for illiterate people too. The bank sees this to be a much cheaper option compared to a bank on mobile van.
According to a statement from SBI, the pilot will run for a month and then be expanded to other areas to cover more villages. About 400 villages are expected to be covered by March 2011.
According to plans, SBI will deploy different modes to bring about financial inclusion. Kirana shop owners, retired government and bank employees, medical shop owners, retired teachers among others will be appointed by SBI as banking correspondents through financial inclusion centres.
SBI has earlier introduced One Rupee Bank in Hyderabad for urban financial inclusion through its kiosk banking model. Already 30,000 underprivileged customers are banking under this initiative through 30 outlets, the release claimed.
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