Chandigrh Feb 16- The Gurgaon Gramin Bank has opened five new e-banking branches using green technology, in the form of solar power, in Financial Inclusion Plan villages of Mewat district of Haryana. Five more existing e-banking branches are under conversion from grid power to solar power in Mewat district.
Giving this information here today the Chairman of the Bank S. Indirajith said that in order to render uninterrupted banking service, the Gurgaon Gramin Bank had set up solar based branches in five villages including Salamba, Sudaka, Mewli, Akeda and Doha. Now Green Branches are capable of generating electricity to meet their energy requirements for running computers, lights and fans without depending on grid power. It is pollution and noise free and does not involve recurring cost. Now rural customers are happy to get uninterrupted banking services.
He said that under financial inclusion plan, the Gurgaon Gramin Bank has taken various initiatives under pilot project in Mewat district of Haryana. The Bank has opened seven Brick and Mortar Branches and two more branches will be opened before the end of February 2012 taking the total number of bank’s branches to 30 in Mewat district.
He said that the Bank had opened 52 Ultra Small Branches in 52 financial inclusion villages in Mewat district as per guidelines received from Department of Financial Services, Union Ministry of Finance. Business Correspondent (BC) Agents have been appointed to deal with enrolments of new accounts and all cash transactions at the doorstep of villagers besides acting as Business Facilitator (BF) for the bank. The BC Agents shall operate from the Ultra Small Branches by using Bio-Metric Smart Card with the help of Hand Held Machines.
As many as 20 Field Officers from the financial inclusion base branches provided with laptops are visiting Ultra Small Branches atleast once in a week on a pre determined day to instill confidence in the minds of villagers besides creating awareness about the financial services like bank credit, deposit, remittance products and services provided by the bank.
He said that Bank had taken various initiatives for upliftment and economic development of rural folk of Mewat district residing in remotest areas. Bank has already achieved 100 per cent coverage of willing and non-defaulter farmers in Mewat district. The Bank is now endeavoring to cover remaining landless villagers by providing need based credit under various schemes including Solar Home Light Systems. The Bank had formed 165 new Self Help Groups (SHGs) during current financial year and thus total SHGs promoted by the bank reached 3631 in Mewat district and credit linked 375 new SHGs during current financial year and with this cumulative credit linkage reached 3582 SHGs in Mewat district. The Bank has also formed 13 new Farmer’s Club during current financial year and thus total Farmer’s Club promoted by the bank reached 56 in Mewat district. The Bank has financed 156 new Joint Liability Groups (JLG) during current financial year and cumulative JLGs financed by bank reached 253 in Mewat district.The Bank has introduced a new product namely savings bank-cum-over draft account facility for landless villagers. In Mewat district the bank had also financed 1402 Solar Home Light Systems and in six villages 100 per cent household were covered for this system.TheBank had initiated steps to shortly open a Financial Literacy and Credit Counseling Center at Nagina.