IMPHAL, April 28: With an aim to make basic banking services available at an affordable cost to disadvantage and low-income groups in the rural sector the United Bank of India is planning to set up customer service points in 48 un-banked villages of Manipur which will be driven by latest technology.
An official statement of the UBI in this regards said a customer point will be created in each of the identified villagers where a business correspondent agent will serve the people of the village with the help of three small gadgets like a small laptop, finger print scanner and a small travel printer.
It stated that the villagers can open united basic savings account and perform cash transaction upto a daily limit of rupees ten thousand. Besides, other facilities like recurring deposit, loan repayment, micro insurance, money transfer etc will be available at the village CSP.
It further stated that payment of NREGA wages and social security pension will also be done through these accounts. However, other term deposit and sanction of loans will be handled at the branches only, it added.
Every rural customer will be provided with a card known as UBI smart card which has photo and biometric identification, it said.
It will be safe and secure for the villagers to receive banking service through the proposed CSPs as transactions can be performed only if a customer places his finger on the scanner and insert the smart card into the machine, it added.
UBI opened two branches in the recent past at Tamenglong and Ukhrul. Three new ATMS have already started functioning at Mao, Moirang and Ukhrul. Three more is coming at Imphal. With functioning of these three porposed ATMs, the total number of UBI ATMs in Manipur will go up to nine, it added.
It further informed that with active support and co-operation form the Government of Manipur and its department of Sericulture, UBI is going to soon launch a Rural Self Employment Training Institute (RSETI) and its second-to-be financial literacy and Credit Counseling Centre (FLCC) in Manipur in the district of Imphal East.
According to the release, the Chief Minister and the chief secretary of Manipur are inclined to set up the RSETI as soon as possible that would cater to the training and capacity building needs of local unemployed youths.
The proposed institute will provide free training to the rural youths and below poverty line persons for self-employment along with free fooding and lodging facilitites. The main objectives of setting up of the proposed RSETI are entrepreneurship development, focus on rural and BPL youths, credit linkage with banks and improvement in financial literacy and credit worthiness of the individuals, it said.
The area of training to be provided to a particular youth would be decided after assessment of the aptitude of the candidate. It is believed that the setting up of RSETI by UBI will usher in a new era of self-employment in the district of Imphal East, it added.
