In January 2006, the Reserve Bank of India issued a new set of guidelines allowing banks to employ two categories of intermediaries –

(1)   Business Correspondents (BCs)

(2)   Business Facilitators (BFs)

Business Correspondents are permitted to carry out transactions on behalf of the bank as agents. The Business Facilitators can refer clients, pursue the clients’ proposal and facilitate the bank to carry out its transactions, but do not transact on behalf of the bank.

Villages Allotted:

In this connection, State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) of Tamilnadu allotted 50 villages in Tamilnadu State to our Bank under the concept of Financial Inclusion through BC Model. These 50 villages are spread over 16 districts and mapped to 43 Branches of our Bank in Tamilnadu.  Our Bank has made cent percent completion of Financial inclusion Project with in December 2011 well before the March 2012.

For implementation of Financial Inclusion solution, we have tied up with M/s. Atom Technologies Limited, to act as Business Correspondent and technology services provider, who will be appointing the CSP (Customer Service Point) for our Bank.

To start with, we will be offering only Financial Inclusion - Savings Bank Account (FI-SB) facility to customers, which will be basically a Non-frill account.                                                             

The FI-SB account is a ‘NO FRILL ACCOUNT’ with zero balance, at the time of account opening only. Even amount as small as Rs.10/- can be deposited.

Maximum deposit per day Per FI-SB  is Rs. 5000/-

Maximum withdrawals per day per FI-SB is Rs. Rs. 5000/-

Bank’s progress up to December 2012:

v  Total Number of Villages Covered : 50

v  Total Number of CSPs appointed : 50

v  Total Number of FI-SB No-frill accounts opened : 4162

v  Total Number of Smart Cards Issued : 2930

With the twin-fold purpose of expanding client base and involving ourselves in the financial inclusion call by the apex bank, our bank also started financial inclusion project by way of engaging business facilitator model on 26.06.2008.

RBI has clarified banks that there is no objection to engaging individuals as Business Facilitators (BFs) depending upon the comfort level of banks, subject to taking adequate precautions and conducting proper due diligence before engaging individuals as BFs.

As a part of financial inclusion drive and to bring new clients into our fold for saving and Current account portfolio from Rural and Semi-Urban Branches, we have engaged/utilised Business Facilitator model on 26.06.2008. So far, we have engaged totally 272 (Rural: 70 BFs and Semi Urban: 202 BFs) Business Facilitators till 30.03.2012.
No. of accounts opened upto March 2012 is 7827.