Chief Minister Raman Singh inaugurated the mobile branch of ICICI Bank named ‘Branch on Wheels’ services, in front of his residence. It is noteworthy that Chhattisgarh is the second state after Maharashtra, where ICICI has started its mobile branch (‘Branch on Wheels’ services), informed in an official statement issued here on Wednesday.
On the occasion, CM Singh insisted upon the need to expand recognized banking services of both public and private sector to rural areas. He said that it is a unique initiative in banking sector, to provide ATM and other ultramodern facilities through mobile branch service. Dr Singh congratulated and extended best wishes to ICICI Bank on inauguration of their mobile branch. Hopefully this service will benefit the people of rural areas, he said.
CM said that MNREGA and many other schemes are being conducted in rural areas of Chhattisgarh. Moreover, there has been a significant expansion in economic activities of Self-Help Groups in rural areas. People of rural areas need banking facility near their villages, so as to deposit and collect amounts under aforementioned schemes. State Government is constantly making efforts in the direction, in association with various banks.
Executive Director of ICICI Bank Rajiv Sabharwal told Chief Minister that ‘Branch on Wheels’ is the first consumer service of its kind ever initiated by a private sector bank in India. It is a mobile branch of the bank equipped with ATM service. It also offers banking products and services like savings account, loans, cash deposit/withdrawal, account balance enquiry, statement printing and funds transfer/DD/PO collections etc. ‘Branch on Wheels’ van will be stationed at specific timings of the day in pre-identified unbanked villages at specific locations.
This van is equipped with GPS announcement system, laptops with 3G connections, lED TV, a safe, a printer, public announcement system, UV lamp that detects forged cheques, note counting-cum-authentication machine that identifies fake currency notes and a low-weight ATM. Two ICICI Bank Officials and a guard will manage the ‘Branch on Wheels’.
Officials of the bank told Chief Minister that the newly-inaugurated ‘Branch on Wheels’ will be operated in eight villages, including Pachori, Afrodi, Sonthi and Hathnevra of Janjgir-Champa district, and village Barkapara, Dubchola, Sarbhokaand Sendha-Morga of Koriya district. The nearest branch of the bank will act as the parent branch of the ‘Branch on Wheels’, routing all the cash and transactions for it. At present, 36 branches of ICICI bank are operational in Chhattisgarh.