The United Bank of India (UBI) has decided to extend its services to 1,880 un-banked villages with a population of over 2,000 in 85 districts of 12 states and one Union Territory by March 31.
UBI will set up Customer Care Service Points (CCSPs) in un-banked villages where a business correspondent of the bank will execute various customer transactions through Internet banking, UBI Chairman and Managing Director Bhaskar Sen said.
The project will be held under the Financial Inclusion Programme of the government.
Under the programme, the bank had initiated a pilot project for issuing biometric smart cards in 30 un-banked villages in Purulia district of West Bengal in July, 2010.
Altogether, 419 CCSPs will be set up to bring rural people into the ambit of traditional banking services in Tripura. UBI will cover 103 un-banked areas this year, Sen said.
Promising to strengthen Internet-mobile banking services, the UBI CMD said seven branches would be set up in the North-East region this year.
On Tripura's poor Credit Deposit Ratio (CDR), he said it was not possible to scale it at par with the national level. "Big investment is needed to boost the CDR and small scale investment for loan is nothing to do with the demand of increasing it," he said.
The UBI would place some proposals to increase the CDR (34 per cent) at the next State-Level Banking Coordination Committee, Sen said, adding, "We are ready to disburse big loans... But here, no one is coming forward to take the opportunity."
