HDFC reaches out to rural Goa

With mining banned and their husbands out of work, women are now looking to newer ways to eke out a livelihood, like weaving crochets and working with lace to keep the home fires burning, according to a top official of a bank that is trying to provide a helping hand in Goa's rural areas.

In a new initiative, HDFC, which has over 41 rural and semi-urban branches in the state, has started an outreach programme that enables rural residents to not only avail themselves of micro-finance but also use the bank's reach and infrastructure to build capacity and sell products manufactured by small, pastoral self-help groups.

Speaking to IANS on the sidelines of a rural financial literacy camp, HDFC's branch banking head Ravi Narayanan said that the response to the bank's outreach, especially in the mining belt, was "very good".

"We are carrying out a capacity building and basic financial information campaign in the rural areas and the mining belt, where we not only provide small loans but also serve as a bridge between them and the market, where they can sell their finished products," Narayanan said.

He said that Goa is known for its crochet and lace work and there were instances where self-help groups in the mining belt which manufactured such articles were assisted by the bank in selling them in gift and souvenir stores along the coastal belt.

"These are people who used to run small stores or dhabas for people who used to work in the mining belt. With the ban in place, their business too dried up," Narayanan said, even as the Supreme Court-enforced mining ban entered its 11th month.

Narayanan further said that special training workshops were also being conducted by the bank by sourcing resource persons from outside the state to build skill capacities and enterprises in these areas. The financial literacy effort was a part of this exercise.

"Through this financial initiative, we are helping people in rural areas make informed and effective decisions on the use and management of money," he said, adding that the effort would bring in "more people into the banking fold by going deeper into rural geographies and extending our reach in the hinterland to support inclusive growth".

Under the financial literacy initiative, each branch will serve two neighbouring villages, enabling adults as well as schoolchildren from over 75 rural communities attain a conceptual understanding of financial products and services.

"The initiative is in line with the central bank's recent circular which recommended that banks scale up financial literacy efforts in rural areas through their branch networks," the official explained.

(Mayabhushan Nagvenkar can be contacted at mayabhushan.n@ians.in)