The first rural digital centre of Karur Vysya Bank was kick-started at Kathirampatti, an unbanked rural village in Erode district, Tamil Nadu, last week.

Narmada Devi, Revenue Divisional Officer, Erode, inaugurated the digital centre and the Aadhaar-enabled payment system (AEPS).

The centre is part of the bank’s initiative to empower the rural populace in a cashless environment. It is meant to create a digital payments ecosystem for all day-to-day financial activities in the village.

KVB has, according to its Managing Director K Venkataraman, already brought on board about 57 per cent of the local population by opening accounts, and organising campaigns to sensitise and educate the villagers and merchants on the use of digital services. The centre is provided with a cash recycler machine (which accepts and dispenses cash) and a passbook printer. Two tablet systems have been installed to enable customers conduct banking transactions themselves (self-service), including services such as online booking of rail tickets, mobile top-ups and bill payments.

The local merchants have been provided with micro-ATMs which will enable them to receive payments based on AEPS. A fingerprint reader attached to the micro-ATM recognises the Aadhaar-enabled bank details of the customer and ensures transfer of funds to the merchant, he explained.

KVB has a network of 725 branches, 1,751 ATMs and 464 cash recyclers.

It has close to 40 ultra-small branches for servicing unbanked rural centres. “Our plan is to strengthen our presence in more such villages with similar digital centres,” he said.

Related Topics