CHENNAI: The Bank of India (BOI) would cater to its regular customers and the population, at large, in remote parts of the State, said Monika Kalia, Executive Director of the bank, on Thursday. “Far-flung people are unable to access the banking services. As part of our outreach programme, we decided to reach out to the rural areas to make connectivity more sustainable. As many as 136 Business Correspondents (BCs) are added to rural regions,” she said.
The bank officials told TNIE that the BCs would perform basic banking functions like cash withdrawal and deposits with a handheld device. This apart, Kalia kicked off the BOI’s first mobile ATM service in the city. The bank planned to serve traditional urban customers, who were working from home due to the pandemic. She said, “We will increase the number of mobile ATMs depending on its performance and utility.”
Kalia said Tamil Nadu was one of the fastest-growing markets in the country. “BOI is concentrating on retail, MSMEs, and agricultural sectors. After the pandemic, due to the RBI moratorium and the Government of India’s support, loan defaulters have not increased. But asset quality has improved due to additional time given to repay loans,” she added.
Kalia added the bank provided extra loans to pandemic-hit MSMEs under the Union government’s Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS). MSMEs were sanctioned extra loans of up to 30 per cent of their existing loans under the ECLGS without any collateral security, said a senior official.