Bank of Maharashtra helps village go fully digital

Bank of Maharashtra has made Malangaon village in the state completely cashless by opening Aadhaar-linked bank accounts for its residents.
The Pune-based public sector bank said it was an effort post demonetisation to make the village in Sangli go completely digital.
"Post the announcement of demonetisation, the push towards a cashless society and financial inclusion became the need of the hour. Bank of Maharashtra has helped achieve this vision in Malangaon with the help of the district collector and several government officials," the bank said in a statement.
Malangaon, located 3.5 km away from the bank's Shirdhon branch, has a population of about 4,500 and the main source of income is farming, specifically of grape.

Among others, dairy production, kirana and medical stores make up a significant part of the economic activity in the village.
The main mode of transaction had been cash based and with demonetisation, payment of labourers, selling and buying produce, paying school fees and day-to-day expenses became a challenge.

Also, purchase of farm inputs like pesticides, insecticides and fertilisers, as well as the sale of the final produce began to hamper the economy of the village.
"Bank of Maharashtra helped to solve these problems by going door to door to all houses in the village and opening Aadhaar-linked bank accounts for everyone in the village. This was done by the Bank of Maharashtra's Banking Correspondents, called Bank Mitra," the statement said further.

The bank also carried out an education drive for villagers to help them understand and conduct digital transactions.
The Bank Mitra put up flex signboards across the village demonstrating the use of various digital banking modes and platforms, and also went door to door with a pamphlet of this information to ensure that everyone in the village could be educated on the same.