Dharwad-headquartered Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank (KVGB), a regional rural bank (RRB) sponsored by Syndicate Bank, is planning to make nine villages under its jurisdiction fully digital by this month-end.

Speaking at the launch of the first digital village of the bank at Sherewad village in Hubballi taluk of Dharwad district on Wednesday, S Ravindran, Chairman of KVGB, said that the bank has targeted to make nine villages 100 per cent digital by January 26.

The bank’s digital village initiative includes enhancement of access to cashless banking transactions and providing digital banking services.

Of the 4,415 people in Sherewad village, 4,003 have got bank accounts. As many as 3,916 accounts have been seeded with Aadhaar numbers. And, the bank has issued 3,803 RuPay cards in the village.

Under the digital village initiative, the bank will provide technology-enabled banking services, including statements, alerts, remittances and fund transfers on mobile phone, Aadhaar-based payments, e-pass book, and micro-ATM services. The bank will provide point-of-sale (PoS) terminals to select shops in Sherewad village soon. Stating that KVGB is creating a cashless digital payment ecosystem for Sherewad, Ravindran said it will train the account-holders in the village in this regard. Speaking after declaring Sherewad as a 100 per cent digital village, Arun Shrivastava, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Syndicate Bank, said that KVGB has played a key role in the development of rural areas in the last four decades.

Urging the villagers to make use of digital banking activities for speedy and safer transactions, he said smartphones, Aadhaar-enabled bank accounts, mobile banking services, and micro-ATMs are useful for all.

KVGB’s branches are present in Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Belagavi, Uttara Kannada, Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts of Karnataka.

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