Rural Development Secretary Dr Manish Ranjan has written to the Deputy Commissioners and Deputy Development Commissioners of all the districts and directed them to appoint DiGi Pay Sakhis working at Panchayat level in their districts as Business Correspondent Sakhis by banks. Through the letter, Dr. Ranjan said that in all the panchayats of the State, 3471 members of Sakhi mandals have been selected as DiGi Pay Sakhis and activated by Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society under Rural Development Department. Only limited services like deposit and withdrawal are provided by these DiGi Pay Sakhis at the village level.
By appointing all DiGi Pay Sakhi as Business Correspondent Sakhi by the bank, other services like opening of individual account at Panchayat level, insurance service, transaction from group accounts, pension scheme will be available. Dr. Ranjan has directed all the DCs to implement this initiative on priority by coordinating with the Lead District Manager, Bank officials, District Programme Manager JSLPS.
In 2371 Panchayats of the State, 3471 DiGi Pay Sakhi has been appointed in collaboration with CSC – eGovernance Services India Limited. DiGi Pay Sakhi provides transaction related services at the Panchayat level, due to which all banking services are not accessible at the Panchayat level, while the income of DiGi Pay Sakhi is also less. By appointing these DiGi Pay Sakhis as BC Sakhi, all types of banking services will be accessible at the Panchayat level and their income will also increase.
Presently 1148 Business Correspondent Sakhis are working in the State in rural areas of the State, which is extending banking services to remote villages.
Business Correspondent Sakhi provides insurance services, account opening, group account transactions, pension withdrawal, fixed deposits, recurring deposits and many other facilities in rural areas.