Business Correspondents

The Financial Inclusion (FI) Project was started during 2012-13 with 127 villages and for the FY 2020-21 it is in operation in 239 villages through Business Correspondents, viz.

• Guntur District: 147,
• East Godavari District: 45 and
• West Godavari District: 47

M/s Coromandel Info Tech India Ltd. and M/s Magnot Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd. are the Technical Service Providers (TSPs).

All our Business Correspondents are providing by providing Door-To - Door services to the people.

Banking Services through BCs during COVID-19, Pandemic

Even in the difficult times of COVID-19, pandemic our Business Correspondents (BCs) provided continuous banking services to the rural people and has shown their determination towards the work. They have selflessly involved in disbursing various DBT amounts released by Central/State Govt., in the lockdown period. The below table depicts their performance during lockdown period.

We feel proud that for the FY 2020-21, our BCs have shown tremendous performance and registered remarkable transactions growth ever since the launch of Financial Inclusion Project.

Bank Performance through Business Correspondents

The transaction cost decreased from Rs.16.08 during 2019-20 to Rs.14.35 during 2020-21 registering a decrease of 10.76%.

Apart from concentration on Banks business, we are supporting all the Business Correspondents (BCs) to lead financially healthy life and taking steps for their economical growth.

IIBF Certification for BCs

Business Correspondents are playing a crucial role in unhindered delivery of financial services to the needy during the pandemic and have emerged as one of the key enablers in achieving the objectives of financial inclusion.

Accordingly RBI felt that it is desirous that their capabilities are strengthened as per the evolving scenario, for which BC Certification examination is an important initiative. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the timeline for completion of BC Certification has been extended to December 31, 2021

Abiding to the RBI guidelines, Bank has taken initiation in achieving 100% graded IIBF certification to all the Business Correspondents (BCs). As on 31st March 2021 a total of 224 BCs have passed IIBF examination out of the total BCs.

We are training all the remaining Business Correspondents to and will complete the BC certification within the specified timeline.

Training programmes to BCs

Bank is conducting meetings with Business Correspondents on quarterly basis to review their performance and guide them in various aspects.

Bank has conducted Capacity Building Programmes to Business Correspondents (BCs) to all the BCs and also trained them for qualifying in IIBF examination.

During the COVID-19 pandemic also, Bank has also conducted a One-Day Training programme for all the Business Correspondents (BCs) in Virtual mode. All our BCs have participated actively in the campaign.

NABARD has supported the One-Day training programme to our Bank Business Correspondents (BCs) under the grant assistance of Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) for the FY 2020-21.