Buoyed by the initial success during trial run, HDFC Bank has intensified its banking awareness drive as part of its CSR activities and will cover 295 villages of Bihar to educate people about services and their advantages.
The private sector lender had last year run 'video vans' in 15 Bihar villages and showed a film to people to create awareness about banking facilities.
This time, the video van would move around in 295 villages in all 38 districts over the next six months. The van was flagged off today at a function by Sandeep Kumar, Zonal Head, HDFC Bank.
The theme is "Dhanchayat -- PanchKaydeKePanchFayade", Kumar told reporters.
The film, to be shown to the rural populace, has been made to educate them about the benefits and good practice of banking, he added.
The film has been launched under the aegis of "SwachhBanking", a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) of the bank, Kumar said, adding the first such video film was launched on a trial basis in Bihar last year which moved around in 15 villages.
"Encouraged by the good result of the trial run in 15 villages, HDFC Bank decided to cover more areas and flagged off van today which would cover another 295 villages in all 38 districts of Bihar to make people aware about advantages of banking," he added.
The van will stop at the meeting points of people such as haats, bazaars, melas and village panchayats.
The bank's zonal head said with the help of film the volunteers in the van would educate citizens, still not linked with banking, with 5 benefits like ills of wasting money, to develop habit of saving, banking through mobile, how to better take advantage of government social security schemes and benefits due to timely repayment of loan.
The bank, he said, at present has 90 branches in Bihar of which 46 are in rural and semi-urban areas.
HDFC Bank has opened 43,000 new bank accounts of people so far under "Jan Dhan yojna", Kumar said adding the more comprehensive awareness drive would help galvanise the process of linking unbanked citizens with banking.
The "Dhanchayat" video vans have been started in four states of the country including Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat and Bihar.
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