ICICI Bank, the country’s largest private sector bank, launched its ‘Branch on Wheels’ to offer basic banking services in remote areas which have so far been devoid of banking facilities.
The mobile branch, which also has an ATM, will offer basic banking products and services such as savings accounts, loans, cash deposit/withdrawal, account balance enquiries, statement printing and funds transfer/DD/PO collection, among others, the bank said in a statement.
The mobile branch will be operated at a specific time in pre-identified, unbanked villages through a van that will be stationed at specified locations. The truck will be equipped with a GPS tracking system, laptops with 3G connections, LED TV, a safe, a printer, public announcement system, a UV lamp to detect forged cheques, a note counting-cum-authentication machine that would identify fake currency notes and a low weight ATM. Two ICICI Bank officials and a guard would manage the mobile branch with ATM.
The bank's nearest branch would act as its parent branch, routing all the cash and transactions for it. The Branch on Wheels, which has been launched in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, will cover four unbanked villages.
ICICI Bank has launched 308 Gramin (rural) branches across the country and plans to scale this up to 500 this fiscal, said Rajiv Sabharwal, Executive Director.