Comments
UTI Mutual Fund and HDFC Bank have tied up in a pioneering initiative to launch an investor education drive in the southern States of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
As part of this initiative, called ‘Swatantra Yatra,' two UTI Knowledge Caravans will travel through small towns in the three States to spread financial literacy.
FLAGGED OFF
These caravans were flagged off at a function held here on Wednesday by Mr Dhiraj Relli, Executive Vice-President and Head-Branch Banking, South, HDFC Bank.
The initiative aims at creating investor awareness about different financial products and wealth creation options.
Innovative platforms
Innovative formats and platforms, such as mobile, web, Facebook, Twitter, financial calculators and planners, will be used for this purpose.
During the journey, the caravans will cover more than 7,300 km in about 56 days.
Investor meets will be held in at least 130 locations in local languages.
FINANCIAL LITERACY
The caravans and the multimedia show on board will aim at spreading financial literacy with a focus on investment options and wealth creation, Mr Relli told newspersons here.
HDFC Bank will, wherever possible, also aim at ‘converting' the visits to the semi-urban and rural areas to drive its own financial inclusion programme and enrol no-frills accounts.
Branch expansion
The bank has 124 branches in the State of which 60 are in the rural and semi-urban areas.
Five more branches will be opened during the rest of the financial year in the State, Mr Relli said.
According to Mr Hari Velloor, Senior Vice-President and Zonal Head-South, Kerala, HDFC Bank, the caravan will have scheduled stops around these branches where the bank officials will interact with the public.
FIRST TIME
The Regional Head-Retail of UTI Mutual Fund, Mr R. Vijayakumar, said that this is the second ‘Swatantra Yatra' initiative but the first time that the asset management company has tied up with a bank as a partner.
The first ‘yatra' had interacted with an estimated 15 lakh people across the country after covering approximately 38,000 km.
Theme for activity
Financial inclusion was a major theme for activity for UTI Mutual Fund in view of the directive of the Union Finance Minister, said Mr S. Srinivas Murthy, Head-Training.
HDFC Bank is the largest distributor of mutual fund products in the country and feels that the onus lies on it to educate the rural masses, said Mr Nitin Rao, Senior Vice-President, Private Banking group and Third Party Products.
‘Swatantra' is India's journey to financial freedom, said Mr Jaideep Bhattacharya, Chief Marketing Officer, UTI Asset Management Company.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.