Axis Bank Ltd.

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Axis Bank targets 12,000 villages under financial inclusion plan

Date: 02-07-2010

Axis Bank plans to cover 5,500 villages for financial inclusion by March 2011 and scale it up to 12,000 villages in five years’ time. Axis Bank is looking at opening 18-lakh no-frills accounts, Rs 40 crore of deposits and Rs 10 crore of advances through its financial inclusion initiative. The 18-lakh account would include 12-lakh accounts that they have already opened for government-sponsored scheme.

The bank has kick-started its first initiative in financial inclusion in villages located near Nashik (in Maharashtra) and Darjeeling (in West Bengal). The bank is looking at several low-cost delivery models such as smart card, mobile banking and point of transaction device.

As of now, it is estimated that 60% of the Indian population does not have access to formal banking facility and RBI is keen on achieving 100% financial inclusion for sustaining equitable growth.

RBI has asked all private and public sector banks to chart out three plans on a road map on financial inclusion. The plan should cover issues like the number of branches they plan to open in rural India, the number of no-frill accounts they plan and the number of business correspondents they would appoint to achieve the target.crackcrack