On Sunday, India launched 75 digital banking facilities in rural and small-town locations to increase access to financial services.
To promote digital banking throughout the country, India established 75 these digital banking units in small towns on October 16, 2022. Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s finance minister, stated that while promoting digital banking is necessary, the most crucial factor is that it would be affordable and secure for the client.
The RBI governor of India, Shaktikanta Das, echoed this idea when he remarked that after the implementation of digital banking in rural India, customers would have the option of using self-service or assisted banking facilities.
The method would encompass savings, credit, investment, and insurance as specific financial services to be delivered by the DBUs. In terms of credit delivery, the DBUs would offer complete end-to-end digital processing for small-ticket retail and MSME loans, commencing with online applications and continuing through disbursals.
PM Modi said, “ Accessing financial services has always been difficult for residents of rural and small towns. People living in remote locations have generally had to take a day off from work to travel to a nearby city for their banking-related business, even though there are more than a billion bank accounts in India.”We have made sure that banking services reach the last mile our top priority. In addition to removing the physical barrier, we also—and maybe more importantly—removed the psychological barrier.”
Why is the need for digital banking in rural India
Rural India has a dire need for financial services to improve the banking infrastructure and help the economy grow.
The help of financial inclusion through digital banking will help agricultural traders, rural business owners, Processors, and farmers achieve their need for financial inclusion to be part of the digital ecosystem.
Rural & Inclusive Banking (RIB) will provide many business opportunities for banks to explore promising markets to explore and help to realise their strategic objective.
Many opportunities for banks to realise their strategic objectives and a very promising market to explore.
What is the objective of establishing digital banking units in rural India?
Following are some of the key benefits of DBU in rural India
DBU will promote digital literacy in rural India
DBU will aid in bridging the gap the achievement gap between rural and urban children by fostering the growth of the former’s social and emotional capabilities and improving competition
It will help to meet higher goals for rural employment, production, and living standards, which will help the economy to grow.
It will help to boost rural employment and agricultural production and help rural industries to grow.
It will help develop the essential infrastructure and the required facilities to meet the basic needs and help in providing better medical care, schools and transportation.
It will help in improving the cash flows and savings
Rural India would be able to get better credit rates than the traditional money lending that is used.
Digital bank units will help seek funds for their basic needs of food, housing and clothing.
DBU will aid in fostering empowerment by giving rural talent access to information and public services to address the infrastructure deficit in the nation.
Digital banking will enhance accuracy and foster business efficiency in addition to quality and efficiency. Banks can decrease employee errors and speed up processes by substituting automated software solutions for manual back-office activities. By strengthening their IT architecture, digital banks can acquire a considerable competitive advantage.
Final Conclusion: From the cumbersome process of cheque clearing to CTS technology (Cheque Truncation System), India has moved ahead. With the advent of BHIM and UPI applications, every financial transaction has become convenient.
India must adopt the benefits of digitisation to rural India to promote financial inclusion. The focus must be utilising information technology to set up a solid foundation to help improve financial literacy in rural India.