Bank of India (BoI) is planning to ramp up its business correspondents (BCs) field force to 25,000 by June-end from about 19,000 now to expand banking services in the hinterland.
Of the 19,000 field business correspondents (FBCs), about 14,000 are active, while the rest are being trained through the bank’s corporate BCs, according to M Karthikeyan, Executive Director.
FBCs are intermediaries engaged by banks for providing financial and banking services in unbanked areas. They provide services such as account opening, cash deposit/withdrawal, funds transfer, recovery/collection, enrolment for Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojna/ Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojna/ Atal Pension Yojna, among others.
“Suppose a branch in Jharkhand has a few villages under its command, say, in a 5-6 km radius….now, villagers have to spend money and time to visit the branch. This is costly for them. So, FBCs are identified in the field itself. They are stationed in the village, with the corporate BC providing the infrastructure required to offer banking services…FBCs working for us offer 44 of our products and services to customers. All this is for a small fee,” Karthikeyan said.
Loan recovery
He underscored that when it comes to recoveries from bad loans up to ₹25 lakh, the bank’s FBCs get incentives, ranging from 5 to 10 per cent of the outstanding loan. BoI’s outgo on account of payments to FBCs towards recoveries from bad loans last year was about ₹5 crore.
Karthikeyan said due to the National Rural Livelihood Mission’s initiative, trained women members of self-help groups are now readily available to be engaged as BCs.
Currently, about 15-18 per cent of the bank’s 19,000-odd BCs are women.