HDFC Bank boosts village entrepreneurs, signs ' gamechanger' pact with CSC SPV

The largest private lender HDFC Bank today signed an agreement with CSC SPV to enable three lakh Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) of the Common Services Centers to operate as Banking Correspondents of HDFC Bank. HDFC Bank says that it has proposed to promote 1000 villages as DigiGaon within this financial year in collaboration with CSC SPV. Under its' commitment to enhancing women’s health and hygiene, the HDFC Bank will also support CSC SPV by funding Stree Swabhiman Sanitary Napkin Manufacturing Units.

“This ties in well with our ongoing social programmes which straddle financial literacy, financial inclusion and skilling at the bottom of the pyramid. This partnership is one more step in this direction,” said Aditya Puri, Managing Director, HDFC Bank.

Dinesh Kumar Tyagi, CEO, CSC SPV asserted, “Now, with this agreement, the large network of CSCs will enable rural India to get benefit. It will empower people in terms of financial inclusion, in terms of availing benefits, loans, etc. Apart from this, we have the objective to set up one sanitary napkin unit in every block and HDFC Bank’s contribution in this area will also be a milestone in this mission. We are very grateful to the HDFC Bank for their help.”

During the programme, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “Under the agreement, VLEs of CSC will work as Banking Correspondent of HDFC Bank and support the Government initiative to promote financial inclusion and make banking services more accessible in rural areas. This agreement is expected to be a gamechanger as it would significantly contribute to Government’s objectives of enabling Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of various schemes.”

Prasad added, “Women, senior citizens and persons with disability will especially get benefitted through this initiative as it would enable withdrawal of financial benefits sent through DBT at CSC, without the need for visiting bank branch. This will facilitate withdrawal and deposit of government entitlements such as payments under MGNREGA as well as various social welfare schemes like widow pension, handicapped and old age pension, etc."

With 43 million customers, 4,787 branches and 12,635 ATMs across 2,691 Indian towns and cities, HDFC Bank is one of India’s premier banks.The Bank’s achievements have been consistently recognised in numerous prestigious surveys and awards. The latest in the coveted list being Bank of the Year and Best Large Bank awards in the 15th Business Today India’s Best Banks Survey, 2018.