Dena Bank, IIT-C ink deal for rural ATM kiosks

Public sector Dena Bank has tied up with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai to install automatic teller machine (ATM) kiosks in rural areas, starting off with Gujarat.

"The ATMs will be installed in prosperous villages. We have identified Gujarat to start with as we have a significant presence here," Anil K Khandelwal, chairman and managing director, Dena Bank, said on Friday.

"We also plan to start the first retail finmart in Gujarat at Bopal (near Ahmedabad) from January 1, 2005," he added.

The bank is confident of meeting the Central government's target to enhance farm credit by 30 per cent this year.

"We are confident of achieving the target set by the finance ministry. The bank's lending to the agriculture sector was Rs 1800 crore as on March 31, 2004," said Khandelwal.

Dena Bank aims to double its retail financing from Rs 700 crore now to around Rs 1430 crore by the end of the current financial year. Towards this, it has plans to open over 50 retail finmarts across the country for disbursing retail loans.

Meanwhile, the bank has issued over 61,000 Dena Kissan Credit Cards (DKCC) as on March, 2004, with an aggregate outstanding of Rs 226.20 crore. It has also introduced personal accident insurance cover for DKCC beneficiaries, with the premium shared by the bank and the beneficiary in a 2:1 ratio.

Dena has also entered into a farm mechanisation tie up with Eicher Tractors under which farmers will get a discount of Rs 5000 for purchasing Eicher Tractors."The bank recognises the importance of the farm sector in the Indian economy and considers financing in this sector more as business logic than a directed measure. The bank registered a 18.19 per cent growth in agricultural credit during 2003-2004," said Khandelwal.

To strengthen its rural credit delivery mechanism and sensitise the staff at the rural branches, the bank is in process of recruiting agricultural officers.