SBI sponsored rural bank opens 135 ultra small branches on a single day

With this, total tally of the bank USBs will cross 400 mark in the current fiscal

Andhra Pradesh Grameena Vikas Bank (APGVB), a regional rural bank (RRB) sponsored by State Bank of India, has opened 135 ultra small branches (USBs) on a single day on Friday.

With this, the total tally of bank USBs will cross the 400-mark in the current financial year. It has targeted to open an additional 400 USBs in next fiscal, according to an APGVB press release.
 
The USBs, operated by the business correspondent agents (BCAs) by leveraging biometric technology, will provide banking services to villagers,who are primarily engaged in agricultural operations.

The bank has opened more than 400,000 savings bank accounts in these villages till now and set a target to open accounts to all the adult members as per the voters list of the villages to pave  way for smooth functioning of the direct benefit transfer (DBT) payment system for all the beneficiaries.

APGVB has also decided to convert at least 50 USBs into full pledged brick and mortar branches after the villagers start availing banking facilities in large number with regular transactions. It has already converted 3 USBs into full pledged branches during the month.

The bank, with a business turnover of about Rs 12,000 crore, is also planning to install ATMs at all its branches during the next fiscal.