YES Bank ties up with Buldana society for doorstep service

YES Bank, which is keen to enhance its priority sector lending, has tied up with the Buldana Urban Cooperative Credit Society to help the Society with its new customer service initiative entailing door-step para-banking services.

The Society has launched a new doorstep service, called Nano Teller, where the credit society employee visiting the customer's house can help him make a deposit or allow withdrawal up to Rs 10,000 from his savings account.

The cash handling would be done by the society's employee using a small swipe card machine and a cell phone.

The society based in Buldhana, Northern Maharashtra, has a business mix of over Rs 3,500 crore.

Through its 230 branches it caters to the business needs of over one lakh customers, who are mainly located in the rural and semi-urban areas of the State.

Mr Ajay Desai, Head of Financial Inclusion at Yes Bank, told Business Line that the bank is providing the National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) facility as a back-end support to the new service. The society is a customer of the bank and by providing NEFT facility it is only adding value to the relationship, he said.

The private sector bank is seeking to leverage its relationship with the Society to source agriculture and micro and small enterprise loans to fulfil the statutory priority sector lending targets.

Mr Shirish Deshpande, CEO of Buldana Urban, said that the service was recently launched in Pune and the society is planning to launch it in another 130 locations across the State.

Due to the initiative, the customer base will get broad-based and also increase the quantum of low cost saving deposits. The society will get money at cheaper interest rate, he added.

Mr Sandeep Pimple, CEO of Upass, an IT solution's company which has developed the mobile software for Buldana Urban said that Nano Teller will help the credit society in servicing remote villages in the State.

A swipe card machine and a low-end mobile will eliminate the requirement for a society branch and other infrastructure like computers and leased lines, he said.

rahulw@thehindu.co.in