SBI launches pilot project to take banking to villages

To reach out to the people in the unbanked rural areas of the state, the State Bank of India (SBI), the largest public sector lender, has launched a pilot project in Sukindagarh Gram Panchayat in Jajpur district.

Launched in co-ordination with the state Panchayatiraj department, the pilot project is expected to enable a customer to avail banking facility in his own village using bio-metric smart card.

The scheme intends to transfer the benefits of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) to the villagers through use of smart cards and is proposed to be expanded to 19 lead districts of SBI in a phased manner, Shiva Kumar, chief general manager (CGM), SBI, Bhubaneswar circle said.

Speaking in a function organised on the foundation day of the SBI, Kumar said, the bank has tied up with India Post for extending the banking facilities to unbanked villages. Under the scheme, the local post office works as Business Correspondence (BC) of the bank.

Stating that the bank has largest number of branches in the state, he said, the bank plans to add 600 additional ATMs in Orissa during the current fiscal. The bank has exceeded the target by credit linking more than 1400 new self help groups (SHGs) covering 21,000 women.