Bridging India’s rural areas with mainstream banking solutions, Bharat Banking provides the last mile services that our villages have always needed.
It is a fact that India’s true material and manpower wealth lies in its villages. However, successive Governments have inexplicably focussed on developing Indian cities, which comprise only about 30% of the overall population. As a result, the villages remained out of the ambit of most development policies for decades after independence.
Today, however, the Government and leading banks have taken the initiative of providing mainstream banking services to the rural areas in India. This initiative, known as ‘Bharat Banking’ is giving impetus to the ambitions of the village populations, and helping them start their own businesses, invest in land and property, get women to start their own home-based enterprises, and gradually attain financial independence.
Bharat Banking: A new dawn for rural India
Hitherto unbanked for the most part, most villagers in India would have to go to the cities to perform the smallest banking tasks. Not only was this a waste of time and the day’s wages, it was an inexplicable affront to the hardworking and ambitious population in the villages. Isolated from the ambit of mainstream banking for decades, it was endeavours like Bharat Banking that introduced the rural areas to the wonders of personal banking using digital technology.
Bharat Banking services comprise a set of products and services aimed at facilitating easy money transfers, taking credit for village-based businesses or to buy property, daily money management, etc. It is offered by leading banks in India, which are leveraging digital technology to reach every last village in the country, slowly but surely!
Bharat banking services are for every rural population in India, which wishes for better control over their money and more access to mainstream banking at the press of a button. It offers services in:
* Personal banking: Village populations can now open and operate personal savings accounts. This helps them deposit their earnings, transfer money to beneficiaries, accept payments for work done, and also shop online. Plus, the savings account offers interest on deposits. Bharat banking also allows creation of deposits.
* Doorstep banking: A key aspect of Bharat banking services is doorstep banking, in which micro ATM services are available in the user’s home. Thus, there is no need to go looking for an ATM or even to go to the bank branch to withdraw money.
* Business banking: Bharat Banking is helping India’s villages become hubs for industry and commerce, by extending credit and opening current accounts for entrepreneurs. With timely funding and advice on how to use the money and repay it, several enterprises have already mushroomed in the hinterlands.
* Land and property purchase: Lack of funding options would hinder rural populations’ plans to invest in land or property. But there are good Bharat banking services that offer loans for property and land purchase, for both residential and commercial use. You can also get loans for buying a vehicle.